When the Stars Burn Out
by Fan Fictional Authoress
Summary: In most stories when people have something like this happen to them, it's like a fairytale: exciting, cliché, and romance-filled. This is not one of those stories. There aren't always happy endings. The Doctor doesn't always come to save the day. He doesn't always believe what a girl from our dimension has to say. He isn't always the hero. Realistic SI & AU. Dark!Doctor
1. I Trusted Him

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

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I've always was an optimistic person. Come hell or high water, I'd always try to find the best in any given situation. If it became too hard to find any good, I always did my best to salvage it so that I could find one thing, just one thing, that wasn't all that bad. It gave me hope that everything would be alright.

Maybe there's something wrong with my brain, or maybe I just didn't get the memo that was sent to inform people to grow up and be more realistic, but I can't help it. I just want everything to be gravy, I want everything to be 'okay,' I want everyone to be happy and content. Is that so bad a thing, happiness?

But this time, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find anything, not even one good thing.

Really, I was the one who was at fault. _I_ was the one who let it escalate as far as it did. _I_ was the one who didn't step up and say something when the first signs started to manifest themselves._ I_ was the one who didn't pay attention, too stupid and naïve to know any better, too trusting than what should be healthy.

My mama always said I couldn't do anything right without her holding my hand, and it was only now that I was starting to realize how true that was. I always had my head so high up in the clouds, that this moment, this terrible situation, was a shock and a painful one at that. I was willing, at this point, to take biology class for the rest of my life, if only for this situation to have never happened.

My grandma had warned me countless times that if I never stepped up, people would walk all over me for the rest of my life. I was too compliant, too acquiescent, too _willing_ to yield to biggest person in the room. I've never been able to stand firm against anyone, _especially_ not against him.

I trusted him, I _trusted _him.

And maybe that's the problem right there, I trust too easily. I take what people say at face value and take their actions as genuine, without thinking and to look for any hidden motives. It's nigh impossible for me to read in between the lines, and I couldn't be subtle to save my life. So, really, when the one person I trust the most says that I am nothing and that I mean nothing to him, I believe him.

I believe him, and, oh, Dear Lord in Heaven, it _hurts. _I can't breathe, I can't talk, and it's _hell. _

The hurt fills me so completely, that I can't do anything but cry. Like I said before, I must've lost the memo that told me to grow up, because I'm crying like a little girl again, and _I_ _can't stop. _It's like I'm back in preschool again and having that stupid bucket of dirt being dumped on my head which caused that awful haircut, but that's not the point. It's like I'm back to being the "crybaby" because of a few words.

_Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words can _**always**_ hurt me._

My eyes are like a leaky faucet, I can taste the salt, and my nose starts to run. I don't flee though, I can't, because with him, running just makes everything worse. I want to, though, I just want to _run, run, run_ and never look back, just like the coward I am. My legs tremble and hips ache from the tension in my body, from the force it takes to keep myself from moving.

"Oh," I say. "Oh, okay, that's-that's fine. Do…Do you want me to leave?" I ask this, because it's the only thing I can say at this point, and I know my tears are making him uncomfortable, since he refuses to look at me. Despite myself, a faint hope stirs within me that he'll say, 'yes, leave and never come back.'

Of course, he doesn't say that and he never will. I will never be free.

Ever.

"You can't," he informs me flatly, just as I expected him to, and I could feel myself become resigned to the series of events that I knew were firmly set in place. I knew how this conversation would end.

It felt wrong, all of it, like it was all one big mistake, one big error that_ I_ was the cause of. _I_ changed events, _I_ made him like this. It was all my fault. If I just disappeared like I should have, he wouldn't be like this, he would be the person he was supposed to be. I try to find something to say, something to try to make things right, but the cupboard was bare. "Oh, right, sorry. I'm sorry, I just-sorry," I stutter, my mouth unable to form the words I want to say, my verbal tic interfering.

I could only apologize, the words sounding unworthy and pointless as they spilled from my mouth. I was always apologizing, something he once, ironically enough, told me that I didn't have to do all the time. That not everything I did was my fault or needed apologies.

He sighs, as if tired with the situation. Maybe he remembered his exasperation from times before when he constantly told me to stop apologizing. Eventually, he continues, giving me his, now per usual, instructions, "Stay here. Don't leave, no matter what." And he doesn't have to wait to hear my affirmative, because I wouldn't dare say no, but still, even though he's gone, I answer him. I still feel that loyalty and love for him, that need to seek approval.

"I won't."

* * *

I haven't seen him for the longest while, and I can't help but wonder if he has left me here to rot, but where else could he go? Besides, it doesn't fit the person that I once thought I knew. If there was any trace of the man that I had admired and loved left, he would be back.

But not for me, not for "nothing."

He'd be back because this was his home, this was his universe. I was just another responsibility on his shoulders, an intruder who could never leave his sight and was now too dangerous to be allowed to leave the TARDIS for the safety of others. I knew too much, far too much, and if he knew all things I really knew, I doubted that I would be given the freedom to roam around the TARDIS like I was. It would probably be only a matter of time before he did, before he finds out these last secrets that I'm harboring from him and puts _me_ in a time lock or inside a mirror.

I could understand the Master's choice now, even if only partially. Too indispensable to get rid of and too dangerous to be allowed to continue as I had been. I didn't flatter myself with the idea that I might've been a more preferable prisoner.

You're probably confused, sorry. The End of a story is never a good place to start. Well, usually. Sometimes it's good, but this time, for sure, it's a bad way to start this story. You wouldn't be able to understand how things got to be the way they did, otherwise. You wouldn't be able to understand why I feel the way I do about this man or why his rejection would cause me such despair. I'll give you fair warning, though, this is not a fairytale.

No matter how much it may seem so, I'm not Alice and this most certainly is not Wonderland. This story, I'm afraid, is unlikely to end happily and I've given up on waking up if it really is only a dream. You know how it all ends but, please, allow me to tell you how it all began before you decide to leave with everyone else.

It all started when a tree decided to have me for lunch…

Yes, a tree, no need to sound so cynical.

That's crazy, you say? Well, it only got crazier from there.

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_**To Be Continued...**_

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_**Poll: **_Which Doctor: 9, 10, or 11?

_**Thought Process:** _Let me say one thing: THIS IS A TEST CHAPTER.

I might not continue it.

I have no clue where it's going.

That being said, this is a realistic, self-insert, Doctor Who fan fiction. This character is basically me and what I think about myself. This character is a more extreme version of myself, the self I feel that I am. She is not a reliable narrator the majority of the time, since their are many things she isn't aware of and is bias towards. If I do continued this, there will be point in time where I change the point of view so that you as a reader can understand what is going on, but otherwise, we'll just stick with her point of view.

This chapter is inspired by Reality and Lost in Time.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE: **Lost in Time

**AUTHOR: **emptyvoices

**ID: **10106809

**SUMMARY: **A story about a girl from our universe crossing over to the Dr. Who universe but with untold consequences. She is pulled into a dimension of insanity where fiction comes to life in frightening ways and wants to find her way back to the real world that she knew. She becomes tangled up in a mystery for the 10th doctor to discover on his journey. Will she find her way back home?

**OPINION: **It takes an interesting concept and makes said concept its own. A girl forced to become an unwilling companion because if she not careful she could cause the destruction of the universe. It's a story about free-will and what if a person had no choice in becoming a companion. A great story that is, sadly, underappreciated.

* * *

**TITLE: **Reality

**AUTHOR: **LovelyAmberLight

**ID: **9864475

**SUMMARY: **I wanted a more realistic story of a whovian getting stuck in the "Doctor Who" universe. This isn't the typical "yay, I met the Doctor" whovian story. Think about it. If you suddenly found out the Doctor was real, wouldn't you be just a little scared. That would mean all the monster were real too! This story starts off with the episode "Rose," and will continue on from there.

**OPINION: **Very well written, like a Doctor Who version of "Dreaming of Sunshine." It's a must read for those of you who want to see a slightly-darker Doctor who is still able to remain completely in character. Girl from our universe put into the Who-verse with a Doctor who thinks that she could be a hazard to herself and everyone else. A fantastic story in the making that reads like a script straight from BBC.

Happy Sunday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Submitted: Sunday, March 3, 2014._

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_**Thought Process 2:**_

Well, I revamped this chapter and made some editions. For those of you who read the original chapter you'll hopefully notice that it's less scatterbrained and make more cohesive sense that it did before. If not, well, that's fine, I guess, nothing wrong with that.

You'll also notice the cover for this story is different too. And the title. And the summary.

I actually got inspiration for the title from "When the Stars Burn Down" by Phillips Craig &amp; Dean. Good song. Anyway, maybe I'll accomplish my goal of attracting the attention of more readers with this more serious and less crack-ish front. Because, really, this is a more serious story than it is a parody one.

Also, I got a job. :O Well, I actually had it for a while, this is just the first time I'm mentioning it. *Laughs* I'm working at Arby's by the Oak Park Heights/Stillwater area. If you ever stop by and notice a chubby girl with highly-expressive eyebrows and an unusual name (you'll know it when you see it, most people don't choose this virtue for a name), be nice and say hi. Feel free to mention if you've read my stories, I won't be weirded out at all. Likely, I'll be very flattered and stutter-y.

Happy Thursday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Edited: Thursday, August 14, 2014._


	2. And Then I Knew True Fear

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

_**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**_

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Okay, that might've been a bit dramatic, maybe a little _too _dramatic for what actually happened. Really, it was an ordinary day that ended being extraordinary, the bad kind. It was fall, my favorite season, and the beginning of a new school year. I had looked forward to it for the longest time. I had already been accepted into a little community college down in White Bear that I wanted to go to. I merely had to finish high school and get my diploma...I just got eaten by a tree instead.

Anyway, I'm not going to claim that remember that day as if it was yesterday, because most of it was an unimportant blur, up until I got eaten by that tree. I'm also not going to claim that it was frozen forever as the worst day of my life, because that would be a lie. I barely remember that day, and I've had far worse ones before.

What I do remember is walking home because I missed the bus, and I knew that no one would be able to pick me up from school. As I said before, it was fall, and there were colorful leaves scattered everywhere. I remember longing for a camera so that I could take pictures for that scrap book of mine, the one that happened to be blank, except for the clippings I had cut out from the National Geographic magazines at school (they were in the recycling bin, so it's not like I was stealing or ruining anything that the people over there particularly cared for, I'm not a criminal).

The leaves were crunching crisply underneath my feet, and I was humming some nonsensical tune as I stared off into space, day dreaming as usual. I don't really remember what it was that I was dreaming of, but let's just say that I was dreaming of flying or something, yeah, _flying. _When I came to the crosswalk to wait for my turn to cross the street, I came back to the real world long enough to wait for the light. I was going to cross, but something white caught the corner of my eye.

The source was coming from the squat and dumpy "Old Frog Tree." Everyone called it that, because the tree looked like an old, grumpy bull frog if you tilted your head to the side and squinted. It was tradition to go and smack what looked like a wart on the frog face for good luck when you passed by, which was pretty stupid, really, but it was a small town, so what could you do?

Anyway, the tree had what appeared to be a humongous crack cutting the trunk vertically in half, oozing what appeared to be a white, fuzzy fungus of some sort. It looked like someone had decided to stuff cotton balls into the huge crack, as if it was a pathetic attempt to seal up the crack. It wasn't until I was standing right beside the tree, worried that it might've gotten some sort of a disease, that I realized that it wasn't fuzz, but, rather, a pure light trying to peek out and escape from the deep groove in the tree.

I don't remember exactly what was going through my mind, but I believe that I thought that someone stuck one of those cords with the white lights into the tree for decoration. Curious, I stuck my hand into the groove. A smart move, I know, but I couldn't help myself, honestly, I couldn't.

And that was when the weirdest part happened, the crack actually expanded and ate me! It opened up more, the crack widening and lengthening to make itself bigger and taller than me. The light was blinding, but it was one of the most beautiful lights I'd ever seen then. I couldn't bring myself to look away or even blink, even though there was a distinct possibility that I could lose my eyesight, it was so bright. I felt myself be drawn into the light, and I made no resistance, entranced by its beauty. Tendrils of the light surrounded me, consumed me, the light becoming so bright that I was forced to close my eyes and shield them with my hands.

_And then I fell._

_And I fell, and I fell, and I fell._

_Down, down, down, I went with no end in sight._

The light, it burned me, everything seemed to burn in that shining, blinding realm. The wind that wasn't wind buffeted me from all sides, tearing through me, as if my flesh, muscles, blood, and bones weren't even there! The sizzling, stinging, raw power of that place is not something to take lightly, wherever and whatever it was. I just wanted it all to end, but at the same time...not.

There was this…this sound, something other than the not-wind. It was like a distant echo of a sound, like when you hear someone singing in the forest, but you are too far away to hear the lyrics or tune, you only know that it's there. Then there was this feeling, I can't really describe it, it was like-like I was everything at once.

I could feel my every last one of my cells, my blood as it flowed against the veins, every one of the air particles that I breathed into my lungs and exhaled. I could feel everything. I could feel my planet, my solar system, my galaxy, the whole _universe, _even. For one brief moment, I could feel its vastness, its growth, its wonder, its glory, and its overwhelming amount of life. It was so big and I was so very small, so tiny, so insignificant, nothing.

_I was nothing in the face of it all. _

Nothing could stop the universe from just swallowing me whole, consuming me in this vulnerable state and spreading me like dust across the stars, across all of time, never able to leave, and never able to return to the way I once was. This terrible sense of forever and the pain, the love, the joy, the sorrow, the hate, the-_everything_.

Never ending, never stopping, too much, too little, enough, not enough, more, less, imperfect, perfect, all of it, and none at all, all at the same time, in that one brief moment...

And then the world exploded around me, casting me out. The not-wind whipping about me violently, rejecting me, trying to spit me back out the way I came, no longer wanting me.

_And then I was lost to the darkness._

I was stuck in a dark, dark place. The darkness was like one that you would only find in a cow's four stomachs: pitch black. For a moment, I thought that I had become blind or had finally just died. Then I realized that my eyes were wide open, there just wasn't any light here. It was cold, too cold for there to be any light, since that provides a source of heat. The sound of the universe and the not-wind was gone, replaced with less pleasant sounds.

I've heard that silence could be maddening, but I would've preferred it to the sourceless noises and bodiless voices. There were harsh whispers and screams accented with growls and cackling. There was a general feeling of discord, fear, hate, pain, and...sadness. No, not sadness, the feeling was too intense for that, rather, it was despair.

My heart refused to slow and let me calm down. It was going so fast, I was afraid that the only way for it to slow down would be if it stopped completely. Trembling, I listened to the noises around me, quiet as a church mouse, hoping that they, whoever or whatever they were, wouldn't notice me.

'_Please, Lord, don't let them notice me, please.'_

I had always been afraid of the dark. I always had to shut the door of my closet and leave my bedroom door open. I may not have checked under the bed anymore, but it was a hollow victory, since I still used a lava lamp for my nightlight and had those plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars littering my ceiling in the form of a starry sky.

I was not scared of the monsters that hid in the dark nor of the dark itself. I had always been scared that the light would never return if it was completely dark. That once the light disappeared, I would be dead and forced to wander in the darkness, unable to find a way to heaven or even purgatory without any light to see the path. I had always thought that if that happened, that if I wandered off that path, I would be cursed to never find my way out, and I would see nothing but that horrible, dreaded, black blankness of darkness anymore.

Seeing light assured me that I was still alive, because when you're dead, your eyes are the first to go, and you can't see light without them.

A voice croaked out, "Life-form de-tec-ted, ex-ter-min-ate! _Ex-ter-min-ate!_"

The owner of the voice started to fire beams of light wildly, terrifying me beyond belief. I tried to protest, to cry out, but I bit down on my own tongue by accident instead. A metallic taste filled my mouth, and a liquid started to dribble slowly down my chin. In my fear, I had bitten down too hard, causing my tongue to bleed. The beams of light were starting to get more and more accurate, heading closer to my position, trying to hit me.

Suddenly, behind me, something decidedly _evil _let out a howl, a roar of rage and hate and pain. I shrunk farther into myself, with no thoughts running through my head other than, '_It's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. Everything _will_ be okay. Everything _has_ to be okay. These things don't exist. They can't possibly exist, they aren't real!'_

But they were.

There was a Dalek close by, and it painted a huge target on the both of us by firing at some huge, unimaginable evil known as Abaddon, the Great Devourer.

Almost frantically, the Dalek started firing its laser even more, screaming, "Ex-ter-min-ate! Ex-ter-min-ate!"

_Abruptly, it got cut off, and I knew then that it had been devoured._

I have no idea how long I was in that place, but it felt like an eternity, an eternity in what must've been hell. There was no other place that it could've been, I felt. '_What have I done?' _I wondered. _'What have I done to deserve this? What crime did I commit to be sent here? What about my fair trial before the Lord himself? I haven't committed any mortal sin that I had been aware of.'_

I didn't believe so, anyway, but still, a nasty thought occurred to me. _'But what if I had? Maybe that was what that white light was earlier, maybe those feelings I experienced was the presence of the Lord, himself. What if this was my fate, to exist forever surrounded by my worst fears and nightmares, never to leave this place?'_

The terror that I had been trying to contain, to suppress, bubbled its way to the surface of my thoughts. My breathing quickened to the point of me hyperventilating. I started choking and gasping for air over my sobs. I felt vulnerable and scared stiff in a place where everything was unclear and hidden in shadows. I don't think anything could describe the all-consuming _terror_ I felt during the whole time I was there.

To make matters worse, just when I thought that they _couldn't possibly _get any worse, my mind started to finally burn up from my experience in the light. I've never admitted this to anyone but myself, but I think that during my time in the light, I had been actually absorbing my _own_ universe, what I had been feeling, I was actually absorbing. This had been insulating me from the void, the darkness I was trapped in. Worse, as the void absorbed the universe I had been absorbing, I had continued to absorb the things around me.

I think that I had been absorbing anything and everything in reach, and that scares me. That means that I'm even _more _of a danger than the Doctor previously guessed, if I'm right. But being a danger was the furthest thing from my mind then, then I had thought that _I _was the one in danger.

_I could feel my mind being, literally, torn apart._

I couldn't stop myself anymore, I screamed in agony. My puny, human body was in no way compatible with all the knowledge being crammed in there, it started to overload after the peaceful, waiting period was over. It was now time for my mind to burn.

When I say that my mind was burning, I don't mean that the sensation was like my mind was simply lit on fire. Rather, it was more like a Red Carnivorous Maw came and started tearing my mind to shreds _while _it was set on fire. And somehow, all throughout that supposed metaphor, I managed to remain conscious. Lightning went down my spine, through my brain and into my body. It felt like that metaphoric fire was burning my flesh off and that acid was eating the inside of my head.

_Spasms started to rack my body._

I felt everything and felt nothing. I was in pain and that one sensation overloaded everything else. I was screaming, and _I couldn't stop. _My lungs felt like they were ripping each other to pieces as I screamed and screamed and screamed. I screamed until my entire throat was dry and I was completely out of oxygen. I screamed out of pain until I could no longer scream.

I had been wailing and crying for mercy, terrorized and irrational. My pain-filled and tortured screams were probably the only thing that kept me alive in that darkness. All the other monsters didn't want to meet the monster that could cause a person to scream like that, for fear that it would happen to them.

I felt like I was dying, and you know what the worst part was?

_I didn't care._

I didn't care about the fact I was dying-well, I _did _care, but I didn't care about being dead as much as something else. Something else that I care about so much more than the fact that I would be _dead. _It wasn't just the dying part that got me, it was the fact that I would be dying _alone._

_I was suffering alone._

I was so scared and so sad and so ignorant of what would happen next, because I didn't know what would happen next.

_I remained in the dark, and in that darkness, I knew true fear._

* * *

I have no idea when or how I left, in fact, I wasn't even aware of the change in scenery until long after. I was unable to recognise or process the world around me, the pain was so strong. My screams had started to die down until they were only uncontrollable sobs of pain. The light from the space around me hurt after so long in the darkness, but I was grateful, I knew that I was alive then.

But the _pain_, oh, how it burned me!

At that point in time, I wasn't aware of this, but I later found out that I had appeared in a public park. Many people had heard my cries and spotted me writhing in agony on the ground; they immediately called for help. One person had tried to help me, but the moment his hand touched my skin, it was like he was stoking the fire burning through me, making it worse. The officers arrived minutes after with some paramedics, who moved me, screaming, into an ambulance where I was immediately taken to a hospital.

It was then that my screams were the loudest. I had been screaming for so long, my voice was raw, but their touch made the pain worse, if that was even possible, because they were lifting and restraining me. I was getting to the point when I didn't even have the strength to make a sound, my screams slowly died away in volume, but my mouth was still wide open as if sound was still coming out.

Only my mental screams of anguish were left, and I think, at that point, even they were growing more and more faint. The pain was so great, I was forgetting who I was, what was happening, I was forgetting everything, signs that my situation was getting to be extremely dire.

_Pain was my world engulfed._

I had to be sedated, knocked out, before I caused myself and others more harm with my spasms. I remember that last part, being sedated, because that was when the pain started to die away. Whatever they used eventually cut off all feeling, the pain was gone and I felt nothing.

This nothing was different from before, then I had only felt pain and had felt so much of it, it was like I knew nothing else and it canceled into nothingness. More simply, before it was just pain and nothing else, but now, it was nothing else at all.

I wasn't connected to my surroundings anymore, I kind of passed out. The thing is, though, being in that state lasted for days. It was like I wasn't even connected to my physical body at all. I eventually became aware to my surrounding, yes, but I couldn't react, like my mind was separate from my body. I couldn't move or do anything on my own, except for the automatic things like breathing and blinking...or I mumbled.

I don't know what it was that I said, but the reports said that I was mostly listing numbers, equations. I can't remember, my mind had stored the information away to my subconscious. I was catatonic, my mind was fuzzy, cloudy. I couldn't think right, and I couldn't really pay attention to the world around me. Everything seemed so muffled and slow. The only thing I could compare it to was what a cold-blooded creature probably felt when it got stuffed into the refrigerator.

Every time I opened my eyes, everything seemed so...dull, bland, pale, and empty. Nothing seemed to click with me, as if I was looking through a lens. People, nurses most of the time, spoke to me whenever my eyes were open, trying to get me to respond to then, I suppose. I tried, believe me, I tried, but it was like the whole of my consciousness was centered along my eyes, and even then, only to open and close them.

It was always such a chore to look around the room, as if my eyes had weight in them. I usually only looked forward in whatever direction my head happened to be pointing at, meaning that I got a good, long look up at the ceiling.

Eventually on what might've been the third day, I found that I could turn my head to the side. So now I had three places to look at, the ceiling, the window, and the door that lead outside of my room. Once in a while I noticed that there would be a doctor or two inside the room, studying me and studying what looked like an x-ray of a skull, a brain, one that I guessed was mine, one that they had probably took while I was unaware.

I don't know why they found it terribly interesting, not even when they tried to explain it to me later either as they took me in for more tests and head scans. The only thing I did know was that for each day I gained more control of my body, the more the x-rays changed. By the time I was finally able to sit up by myself, my x-rays were declared to be normal.

The only thing that didn't change was that my mind remained somewhat clouded from the pain-killers or drugs that they continued to give me through an IV (by that time, I insisted that it be taken out and any medicine be in pill or liquid form).

The day after that, they sent in a psychiatrist. "Hello, my name is Dr. O'Connell, do you mind answering some questions…?"

"No," I said, expecting something like this to happen soon anyway.

"Right," he wrote something down on his clipboard before asking, "What is your name?"

"Penelope Elaine Carter, are my parents here?"

"I'm afraid not, Penny, can I call you that?" He asked off-hand.

"...Sure," I frowned slightly, but didn't protest.

"Do you remember what day it is?"

"Yeah, it's...September 10, 2013, right?" I asked, doing the mental math in my head.

"Say that again?"

"September 10, 2013. I might be off by a day or two, though, how wrong am I?"

"It's the year 2003, you are off by ten years."

I took one look at his face and laughed, "You can't be serious?"

"As serious as a heart attack," he deadpanned, the look of utmost seriousness never leaving his face. My laughter died away into nervous tittering.

"I'm sorry, but is this some kind of test? It's 2013, I would know, since I'm supposed to graduate from high school this year, I'm a senior."

"Right," Dr. O'Connell nodded, "And you graduate on June 6 of next year, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right," I said, relief flooding my voice. "I'm going to be a graduate of 2014."

"And how old are you now?"

"I'm seventeen," I stated, figuring that we had moved on.

"When was your birthday?"

"November 6, 1995," I answered automatically, thoughtlessly.

"But that would make you seven years old, don't you mean 1985?"

"No, 1995!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "I was born on November 6, it's 2014, I'm seventeen years old, and my name is Penelope Elaine Carter."

"Right, sorry, my apologies," Dr. O'Connell said in a placating manner as he wrote down the information on his clipboard. "Just making sure that you were certain in your answer."

"Why wouldn't I be? It's common sense," I muttered, feeling miffed slightly at his attitude. Louder, I asked, "So my parents didn't visit at all? What about my grandparents, my sister, anyone?"

"No, no one has come to visit you, nor have you been declared missing."

"What?" I asked shocked.

"No one has been looking for you, I'm sorry," the man had a sympathetic voice as he continued to jot down notes.

"May I have a phone call?"

"You can borrow mine," he offered handing over a flip-phone, which pleasantly surprised me.

"Oh, I thought most people didn't use these anymore besides me and some of my friends," I said delightedly. "They are so much easier and straightforward than the smart-phones." Not noticing the assessing look on the psychiatrist's face, I quickly typed in the phone number to my parents cell phone.

_"We're sorry, this phone number is not in service, please-"_

I ended the call and tried my grandparents' home phone.

_"We're sorry, this phone number is not-"_

Scared now, I tried Laura's phone number, only to get the same response.

_"We're sorry-"_

The phone fell out of my hand and bounced on the bed. I brought a shaking hand to my mouth, sickened. "Where are we?"

"Fergus Falls, Minnesota," O'Connell studied my reaction closely.

"Oh, that's not too far away from my home at all," I remarked faintly, surprised. "I live in Underwood, about a quarter of an hour away."

"I see, your address?" I listed it out for him and he nodded, standing up. "Thank you for your time, Penny. I'll just leave you to your lunch. We'll get this mystery taken care of," he assured me. "I'll be back later, hopefully with some answers."

"You and me both," I mumbled quietly, thinking about what had caused all my problems in the first place. "I can't wait for this nightmare to end… Time-travel doesn't exist."

* * *

"No one has lived there for quite some time, Penny."

"You must be mistaken, Dr. O'Connell, I've been living there my whole life," I said earnestly.

"The thing is, we've also checked the hospital records here. There was a girl named Penelope Elaine Carter born here at 7:31 a.m. on November 6, 1995, along with her twin sister, Laura Jane Carter. Unfortunately, she went missing earlier this year by means of kidnapping. The family has moved to a new permanent residence in Georgia to protect themselves. She was seven."

"No, you're lying, I'm alive, I'm right here!" I protested.

"She went missing at approximately at 1:30 p.m. and was last seen at Bass Lake with her sister who barely got away herself. She's presumed to be dead."

"I've never went around strangers! It must be a coincidence! It has to be! I didn't go through hell, just to end up dead!" I sobbed.

"What do you mean by that Penny?"

"...N-Never mind that, you wouldn't believe me anyway," I muttered bitterly.

"Try me, you'll find that I am a very open minded person," the psychiatrist adjusted himself so that he was sitting more comfortably in the chair and waited patiently, his pen poised over his clipboard.

"You'll think I'm mad, _barking_ mad," I insisted. "_I_ even think I'm mad, and I was there!"

"'Mad,' Penny?" He repeated.

"Barmy, crazy, insane, not in my right mind," I listed off slightly hysterically. "Take your pick!"

"I prefer the term 'unstable,' but continue. I'll attempt to withhold my judgment," he demonstrated his point by tossing the clipboard on the bedside table, putting his hands in his lap. "Now, what did you mean by that, Penny?"

"I think I did die, only for a little while, mind you, but it just…" I started shaking. "It was so dark, Doctor. So, so very dark. The voices, the screams, everywhere, I could hear them. The chill seemed to sink to your bones, I was so scared. I wasn't alone, they were everywhere, hiding, lurking, waiting," I choked, my hands slowly moving up to cover my ears, eyes clenched shut.

"Who, Penny?" O'Connell asked gently.

"The monsters, the Great Evil, the forgotten, the banished, the punished," I burst out, starting to cry. "They were going to kill me, I was dead, but they were going to kill me!"

"Monsters," Dr. O'Connell repeated slowly.

"The Daleks, the Cybermen, Chronomites, the Nightmare Child, the Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres led by the Could've Been King, the Horde of Travesties, and _It_."

"It?"

"Abbandon, the Great Devourer. It was there, I was going to die, it was going to kill me."

"But you're safe _now_, Penny. There are no monsters here."

I laughed with a bit of hysteria, "Oh no, that's where you're wrong. I was in 2013, yeah, but you claim it's 2003. Back in 2003, there was a monster, a Dalek, in the possession of Mr. Henry Van Statten. It's hidden and it won't escape for another two years, but it's there. It's _there_." I had started to confuse the nightmare, the void, with reality. I had been right, but I had thought, then, that I had finally snapped.

"So, the world ends in 2005?" I shake my head like he's ridiculous.

"No, silly, that doesn't happen until the year 5.5/apple/26, it's in five billion years when the sun expands. No, it...dies. It only wanted to see the sunlight, but it dies."

"That's a very sad story, I'm sorry, Penny." A woman then walked in, having been alerted by the panic button the psychiatrist had pressed. Dr. O'Connell directed his attention to her. "Ah, Nurse Winn, Penny needs some rest, but she's a bit worked up right now."

"Yes, Dr. O'Connell," she nodded, shooting me a pitying look before quickly leaving. I noticed but didn't care, too busy feeling sorry for both myself and the doomed Dalek. I didn't even care when the nurse approached me with a needle full of sedative and stuck me with it.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**

* * *

_**Edit: **_I combined the old chapters 2 and 3. It made more cohesive sense.

_**Edit: **_Parallel-Penny was kidnapped, not drowned.

_**Check the poll on my profile or answer in a review:**_Which Doctor: 9, 10, or 11?

_**Explanations:**_

* Personally, I think that this is obvious enough, but just in case, she is in the void. Dreadful thing exist in there. Daleks and Abaddon least of all.

* She is deeply religious, so there will some references to her faith. She is a Roman Catholic. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

* No, she will not become all powerful. The same thing that happened to Donna is happening to her. Too much knowledge = Death. The situation will resolve itself though as you will see in the next chapter.

* A Red Carnivorous Maw is a real creature in the Who-verse. The Tenth Doctor made a reference to it in 'The End of Time.' It's assumed to be a red-skinned carnivorous creature.

* With Penny being sedated, her mind kicking with a precautionary measure. It basically shut her down while it got rid of the hurtful information...among other things.

* The x-rays Penny is talking about are the x-rays you get from a CAT-scan. Her brain was lit up beyond what was considered normal for a human. The doctors basically scanned proof of her brain burning.

* So, yeah, the void is basically a dumping ground full of monsters and the unfortunate people to get sucked in from all places and all points in time. Scary stuff.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE: **The Gallifreyan

**AUTHOR: **Writless

**ID:** 7778250

**SUMMARY:** When they first meet, under attack by a demon in a field, she's certain she's gone mad. Even more difficult to accept is he claims to have met her before. With each subsequent encounter, all equally unconventional, she starts to believe him. As she finds herself hurtling forward through time, Calypso learns more about who she was, and a man who calls himself the Doctor. Doctor/OC

**OPINION:** I fell in love with this original piece of work within the first chapter. Completely new and a very satisfying read. It will take some time to get through as there are a lot of components. However, it is well worth the time spent.

* * *

**TITLE: **Not in Kansas anymore

**AUTHOR: **multiverse-tourist

**ID:** 9704191

**SUMMARY:** Imagine ending up in a fandom-world; sounds like a dream come true, doesn't it? But have you ever considered just what actually living it might entail? What if being a stranger to everyone with no home and family to go to, turns out to be not so wonderful after all? Lydia Rayne is about to find that out. [Trying for a more realistic approach at the "fan ends up in fandom"-concept.]

**OPINION:** I find myself enjoying this story very quickly. Refreshing writing style and original adventures! Hasn't been updated yet, but I do look forward to the next one. The Doctor is a bit frosty, but that is only to be expected at that point in time.

* * *

_**Thought Process:**_

So, this is chapter two of this story. You can thank emptyvoices for being brilliant and helping me hash out ideas for the way things are moving along and being a wonderful Beta and helping me with some of the more realistic aspects.. I have no clue when I'll put the third chapter up. But whenever...

Anyway, I think the rest of you readers can guess what's going to happen next, and if not, well, you should've but don't feel bad if you didn't.

The Doctor isn't going to appear for a while and WHY AREN'T YOU PEOPLE VOTING?!

Unless you don't really care, you should vote. I like giving my readers a choice instead of just deciding things for you all. Anyway, 10 is in the lead with 11 close behind. 9 only has one lonely vote. If you don't like the results so far, VOTE to change them. Apathy gets you no where. You don't even have to write a review, just go to my profile.

It only takes five clicks of the mouse.

The poll deadline is whenever the chapter before the Doctor appears gets done and posted (i.e. I don't really know, but I'll tell you when it is closed).

Anyway, yeah, it's been a long week. What, with pi day and me reciting 124 digits of pi, only to find out two hours later my little brother is in the hospital with a ruptured appendix. Getting terribly sleep deprived and starting o hallucinate as a result. A friend decides to calling forty-nine times within two hours, not respecting the fact that I don't feel like answering the phone because I'm too damn tired. *Huffs*

The bight side is, to more days until break, my brother gets out tomorrow or the day after that, and I won a pie baked by my teacher because I won by ONE DIGIT. Cheers!

Also, apologies for not updating my other Doctor Who fan fictions, I should really get on that, really. I've got no excuse, I just haven't been writing. I haven't abandoned them, they are just on hold until I get around to them, yeah.

I have no clue what to type.

Why do I even bother with these author notes?

Ah, well...

Happy Friday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

P.S. - I have no clue when I'll update this next or my other stories. Stay tuned!

_Old Chapter 2's Date Submitted:_ _Wednesday, March 3, 2014._

_Old Chapter 3's Date Submitted: Monday, March 17, 2014._

_Date Updated:_ _Friday, March 28, 2014._

_Date Edited: Tuesday, September 2, 2014._


	3. When My World Fell Apart

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them._**

* * *

I had been diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia.

Not long after my breakdown, I was moved to the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center. I knew then, that I was no longer home anymore. The building that I stayed in was closed in 2005 and was eventually listed for sale in 2012. Back at home, I remember the people talking about demolishing it. Here, that building had no sign of being closed anytime soon, but that might've just because it would be two years before that time happened, or so I guessed (and I was right, I was later moved to Fergus Falls Community Behavioral Health Hospital).

I was prescribed Lurasidone, a neuroleptic meant to treat my symptoms. I felt restless most of the time, feeling like I needed to move around. I was jittery, my hands constantly trembling and my legs shaking with excess energy that I wanted to get rid of by moving. Sadly though, while I wanted to move, it was hard with my muscles being stiff, almost rigid. Something that I tried to fix by keeping myself active anyway.

I almost never slept; instead, I sort of drifted in and out of awareness, daydreaming and going off into my mind palace, to quote the modern Sherlock Holmes. It was hard for me to sleep. "I just don't feel tired," I would tell the nurses when it was three in the morning and, still, I would be awake and doing something else besides sleeping. Truly, though, it was because I was afraid to sleep.

I still had nightmares of that day as well as other dreams that were less scary and more heart breaking. I just stayed awake, which was easier than it sounded, since I was already only being able sleep five to six hours a day anyway back at home. I always had trouble sleeping, just not to this extent, per se...

Anyway, my mind was always clouded, I couldn't think straight. My thoughts were hard to put into some semblance of order, so it would hard for me to think of a response to questions or direct statements that were posed to me. Time and days passed me by so easily, so readily, that I wouldn't realize that a week had passed if I didn't check the calendar in the lounge.

The only things that stood out clearly from the fog were some of my individual therapy sessions. They all varied and some were more important than others, but they helped to form the person I've become today, both good and bad.

* * *

_**November 1, 2003.**_

* * *

"What do you remember moments before you were unconscious?"

"My mind began to burn. I was dying, I _would've _died, if I wasn't sedated when I was. There was too much knowledge inside my head, all those things I knew...It came from, it came from…" I started sobbing in horror. "I killed them, oh, Lord in Heaven, forgive me. I _killed _them. Those Daleks and Cybermen and Weeping Angels, they were all here...and I _killed _them. There was something I absorbed too, I...I...I _killed _it. I didn't mean to in the darkness, I just wanted to go home. No, not even that, I just wanted it to end. I wanted the horror to stop. Make it stop. _Please_, make it _stop!_"

I started to scream in earnest, doctors broke in through the door and everything went dark.

* * *

**_December 13, 2003._**

* * *

_White, white, white._

White walls, white floor, white clothes.

Can't move, don't want to move, too tired to move.

My head rolled back against the padded wall that was _bone white_. The only color in the room was my limp hair, too bright and too_ red_ to be real. I didn't like it in here. I wanted out. I told that to anyone who would listen, but no one did, none of them cared. Last time I got out, Dr. Pierce only tutted, telling me that it was my own fault that I was in the intensive care. I got angry then, really and properly angry. She didn't like that and here I was again.

It wasn't my fault they didn't believe me.

It wasn't my fault the truth was so out-of-this-world and unreal.

It wasn't my fault that I sounded like such a fruit loop every time I told them.

I started banging my head against the wall, sobbing. I was telling the truth, I wasn't crazy! I shouldn't be here! _I shouldn't be here!_

The door burst open and the two doctors strode in, one of them holding a syringe full of sedative aloft. Had I been saying-no, _shrieking_\- everything aloud? I tried to crawl away but my moments were too sluggish. I hated needles, I didn't like them, they hurt!

But it didn't matter what I wanted or that I was scared of needles-_I hated the things, keep them away from me_-when they left, it was just me and the walls and the _white, white, white_ blankness. There was only me and my thoughts and walls.

Why did they have to be so white?

* * *

_**February 25, 2004.**_

* * *

"I've been getting nightmares," I say after around nine minutes and twenty-three seconds according to the clock on the wall.

"Have you?" Dr. Pierce asked. "Tell me about them."

"I'm back at home...I can see myself having the life I always wanted." I pause for a few seconds, to collect the exact words I want to say. "I've...got a job as a dental hygienist...I've got a house and dogs, three of them, two pugs, Rupert and Pakkun, and a collie, Lassie...I still see my sister, Laura, when I can. I still write stories, travel, and food, cooking and eating it...I garden my garden of death filled with 'botanical atrocities' with some common, harmless flowers too. And...And…" I stop, swallowing thickly.

"What is it?"

"I run. I can run in the rain again, go racing in it again, just like always. Just like I used to before Old Frog Tree."

Dr. Pierce wrinkled her nose slightly. "In the rain?" She repeated incredulously. "Why on Earth would you do that?"

My face lit up at the question, "It makes me try harder, forces me to reach deep within myself to get that power I usually leave untouched. It's like I'm fighting against myself and against nature, against the _world_, when I run. I fight with all my heart to keep going, one foot in front of another. It always feels so good, like leaving behind all the weights in my heart and mind in the dust. I makes me happy, really, truly _happy_."

I looked at her, thinking that she would understand, like she always had before when I talked about my life and experiences, but all I saw was a blank face, one that didn't understand my joy. She disapproved, I could feel it. My throat tightens, and I feel myself getting smaller and smaller under her gaze. She changes the subject.

"And that is a nightmare?"

"...Yeah," I answer after another three minutes and forty-nine seconds have passed, _tick tock. _"Yeah, 'cause, you see, it never lasts. The dream fades away a little more, and it always ends the same with those white cracks covering the night sky… Before everything shatters to pieces, blanketed by the whiteness." I stop, throat constricting once more.

I manage to pull myself together so I can continue, "And I just keep running and running and running...I think I'm running from something."

"What do you think it is?"

"I-I don't know… It's like I _know_ I should know what it is, but I don't remember...Then I wake up, and I know that it was just a dream, and it tears me apart."

"You're sad that the nightmare was only a nightmare?" Dr. Pierce asks flabbergasted.

"Yeah, 'cause I lose everything all over again."

"But it's only a delusion, a dream, none of it was real."

"No, it was real, the same as you or me," I insisted stubbornly. "I could feel it so vibrantly, those emotions were real, not fake."

Dr. Pierce shook her head, "You been telling me for some time now that you starting to forget things. If it was real, the memories wouldn't be fading, now would they?"

_And it was then, that I first started to doubt…_

* * *

_**June 15, 2004.**_

* * *

"I've never told anyone about this before, but before...before the darkness, there was...actually a bright light."

"Why haven't you told anyone before?" Dr. Pierce asked patiently.

"...'Cause I was worried that you'd think I'm even more crazy. You think I am already, I just didn't want to add anymore to it," I tell her sullenly. Privately, I think the real answer, '_I just didn't want to go back to intensive care._'

"There are no judgments here, just two people having an honest conversation with each other."

'_Liar,'_ I thought bitterly, but knowing better than to say such negative thoughts out loud.

"You truly believe this right now, so you are fine. You aren't trying to make things up. You honestly believe them, it's just my job to convince you otherwise. I can't help you unless you tell me."

"...Okay," I took in a huge breath before releasing it slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. "Remember the bright light that was trying to go through the groove of the tree?"

"Yes."

"That was the light I first experienced...Earlier, I said that I was first engulfed by the light before it turned into darkness...I was telling the truth, just not all of it."

"Well, I'm listening now," Dr. Pierce smiled, clicking her pen in preparation. I tried to ignore the fact that everything I said was going to be written down and dissected.

"It-It was everywhere. I was completely surrounded by the white blankness, and I fell with no end in sight. There was something like wind that blew in the whiteness, but it wasn't wind though-"

"-Wind that wasn't wind?" Dr. Pierce asked incredulously, interrupting me.

"Yes, it wasn't wind, I think it might've been the resistance against the force that was pulling me." Actually, I didn't think that at all, but it was the least crazy sounding explanation that I could think to give her. Her mind was simple like that.

"Hmm, I see, continue," I could tell that she didn't truly _see. _I almost snarked, '_"I see," says the blind man,'_ at her but managed to restrain myself.

"I started to hear the echoes then, they were- they were so _beautiful _and so..._terrifying_," my eyes started to glaze over as I remembered. Memories of a song so beautiful, that I hadn't heard its match since.

"Echoes?"

"Yeah, echoes, like when you hear something from far, far away. Like when you hear someone singing from far off, you can't quite hear the words or the tune, but it's _there. _The echoes...they were like a wordless vocalization, one continuous song, the Song of Time, the Song of Everything…" My attention drifted inward as I trailed off thoughtfully. Dr. Pierce kind of disappeared from my thoughts and concerns, she didn't matter to me anymore.

"And what was it like? How did you feel?"

"I felt everything. I felt...everything. There is no one way to describe it, having everything in your head...I paid for it later, to be certain, it burned… It burned…" My voice trailed off again, and I stared off into space, unable to continue now. My mind had been clouded once again. My memories from that time too far out of reach, as if something was blocking me from accessing them. The more I struggled to recover them, the more lost I got with my own mind. Faintly, I was aware of Dr. Pierce shuffling her papers, a clear dismissal.

"I think that is enough for today, Penny."

* * *

_**August 31, 2004.**_

* * *

"I don't even know which is fantasy and which is reality anymore. It's hard to keep it all straight in my head...the details are bleeding together."

"Hmm," Dr. Pierce uttered thoughtfully. "Maybe it's time for you to start getting everything down in a diary, a journal, to keep it all straight in your head. Here, take this one."

"...You were going to recommend it today anyway, regardless of what I said, weren't you?" I accused.

"I plead the fifth."

"Ha-ha," I laughed without too much humor, the fog was making it hard to keep my smile in place, and it fell without much fanfare. "I'll try it. What am I supposed to write?"

"Whatever comes to mind…"

* * *

_**January 19, 2005.**_

* * *

"I've couldn't help but notice that you've been writing about...science-fiction," Dr. Pierce said, leaving a meaningful pause at the end for me to explain. I pretend to not notice, picking at a loose thread on the couch. If she wanted something from me, she was going to have to ask for it. She finally sighed and asked, "Why?"

"...I'm just writing whatever comes to mind…"

She looked frustrated, and even a little bit upset, before calming herself down. "Like what?"

"Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who-"

"-Doctor _what_?" She interrupted, frowning.

"Doctor Who, a British television series. It's been running for close to fifty years now, since 1963," I said with a spacy grin, knowing she hated sci-fi. She was too close-minded.

"Don't you mean _forty _years, Penny?" Dr. Pierce gently corrected.

"No," I frowned, "fifty. I heard about there being a special for it on coming for… Christmas, I think… I can't remember. It's on BBC America."

"I see. I haven't heard of this show before, if it's been going on for forty years, why haven't seen it or heard about it?" Dr. Pierce asked, curious of what my explanation would be.

"It got canceled for twenty-some-odd-years. It didn't revive until 2005 with the ninth Doctor. It's speculated that the twenty-year break between Seven and Nine was because of the Time War, which makes sense, considering there was a movie featuring Eight in 1996." The words spurted out, uncontrollable, the flood gates opened.

"I don't… I don't understand," Dr. Pierce stated, puzzled. "Ninth Doctor? Seven and Eight? Time War?"

"Oh, the Doctor is a Time Lord who travel around in his space ship called the TARDIS. It looks like a 'Police Public Calls Box' and is bigger on the inside… Or smaller on the outside depending on your perspective. He can go anywhere in time and space, and he saves the Universe a lot.

"If he dies, he regenerates, his body completely changes, and he becomes a different man. He has the same mind but a different body. So far, he has regenerated ten times. I've heard that Time Lords regenerate only twelve times, but at one point, he said that he could regenerate 507 times. I think he was joking, though…"

"I...see," Dr. Pierce blinked, overwhelmed by all the information, but smiled when she saw my face light up and regain some color and expression. This, in her mind, was a normal thing to be excited and happy about. "I'll talk with some of the staff, learn a bit more about 'Doctor Who,' since it seems to be something important to you, Penny."

I frowned, "No, it's not really important. I just really liked watching it. It was fun… Why did I ever stop?" I wonder out loud and tried to think about it. My clouded state of mind made it difficult, though, and I eventually gave up on that useless exercise. It was getting hard to think about things too much lately.

"Then what's important to you, Penny?" Dr. Pierce asked.

"Church," I chirped, "And running in the rain. I loved that. I felt like I could run forever and ever. I can't run anymore, though, just like I can't go to mass. I'm sick, you see." My face fell briefly, before smoothing back into its previous dazed expression. "I might lose control or have a fit again, but I don't think I would. I'm a good girl, aren't I?"

"Yes, Penny, you are. I know you would try to do that on purpose but accidents happen. We have a chapel in the hospital, so you can go there to pray. You can also run around the grounds or inside our gym. You would have to be supervised though, just to make sure you don't get lost or confused, Penny," Dr. Pierce said kindly, "but you can't leave the grounds, I'm sorry."

"No, I understand. I'm sick, so I've got to stay in the hospital and get better." I nodded, giving a brief, dreamy smile. This seemed to be the right answer Dr. Pierce was looking for, since she smiled and I felt gratified in return.

"Yes, Penny, you are, but you are improving, have been improving, over the past year. We'll see how you get to be later on."

* * *

_**February 1, 2005.**_

* * *

"Penny, there's no such thing as 'Doctor Who.'"

"What?" I asked, snapping briefly out of my drugged trance to give Dr. Pierce a piercing (no pun intended) look. "What do you mean by that?"

"It doesn't exist. I've asked around and looked online for the past week, and…there's nothing."

"How can that be? I know it exists, I remember!" I shout, distressed. I almost lunge out of my seat but the assessing and alarmed look Dr. Pierce gives keeps me in place. I need to calm down, lest I get sent back to the white room. That was the last thing I needed.

"That's because it's your own idea, you created it, no one else. It doesn't exist, except in your own mind."

"So I imagined it, just like everything else?" I asked, devastated as I slumped back into my seat. I didn't want to believe this, but even thing else was proving to be wrong or muddle. Honestly, I was at the point where I wasn't all that surprised, just disappointed.

"Yes, just like everything else."

* * *

_**April 27, 2005.**_

* * *

"I've noticed you stopped writing in your journal, do you care to tell me what's wrong?"

I stared at her flatly for a long time. When she opened her mouth to ask the question again, I said, "Everything I know, everything that I remember from before, is false. It's not true, fake. I'm trying to forget everything, so what's the point of writing down things that aren't true?" I asked dully. What was the point of this anymore? Maybe it would be better if I just holed up in my room and never came out, like Gregor from '_Metamorphosis_.'

Well, except without turning into a giant bug, I'd rather not deal with that on top of everything else.

"It helps with the healing process and organizes your thoughts," Dr. Pierce promptly answered, giving the same answer she always gave. At this point she might as well have been reading from a script.

"But they are all lies, they aren't true!" I burst out angrily, fuming in my seat. Bring on the intensive care and white room! At least I would be left to my own devices and not usually bothered for the most part.

"It's fiction to everyone else, but you believe it's true. That's why you need to write it down. If you write it all out like it's fiction, it will become fiction to you. It's helping you to write down this 'Doctor Who' on paper. You enjoy doing it. You can't deny that, Penny." I felt myself deflate, as if I was a balloon filled with hot air that a person stuck a pin into.

"Yeah, I like writing," I admitted, still troubled. "But it's re-I mean, I _think _it's real. I'm so sure it is. What if I get sued?"

"Are you trying to sell it for money?" Dr. Pierce asked.

"...No," I answered. "But-"

"It doesn't exist. It has never existed. You aren't even going to publish it. It's just for your own amusement and healing. We can keep this between you, me, and anyone else you want to share it with," Dr. Pierce interrupted.

"...Okay." I slumped back in my seat. Did it really matter what I thought anymore? Apparently not.

* * *

**_May 13, 2005._**

* * *

_I hid in the ruins. They wouldn't be able to find me here, this I was certain of. The closest point of civilization was the Scendles Academy which was on another continent across the channel that connected the oceans of Bal Soon and Salmizi Ba. Not that it mattered anyway, because of the Time Wars, the population of the Gallifreyans now only rested between three and nine million, not counting the loomings and the Time Lords and Ladies themselves._

_Many of the settlements and roads were completely abandoned as they gathered nearer to the Citadel on the Continent of Wild Endeavor across the Ocean of Salmizi Ba. The only people who were on this side of the planet, were the Outsiders exiled into the Wastes and the instructors with their students in the various chapters of the academy. The instructors and students hardly ever left their academy, and the Outsiders have dropped out of the Time Lord society, they wouldn't recognize me._

_It was just me and the trees now, the lonely trees who called out to me, craving my attention and presence. Like me, they were now forgotten, as abandoned as the ruins of the Temple Rythia. They were calling out to me, they were crying my name, _"Penny...Penny...!"

_I frowned. That wasn't right, my name was-_

"Penny!" Dr. Pierce shouted, face red.

I jolted, snapping out of whatever trance I had gotten myself into. Dr. Pierce was livid, although she hid it well, behind pursed lips and a flushed face. At most, she only looked upset and mad, not showing that she was only so far away from doing something hasty. I apologize but her face only got redder.

"How long has _this_ been happening?" She demanded. "That sounded like some sort of satanic chant or something, what did any of those words mean? Do you know how long I've been trying to snap you out of..._whatever_ that was?" I meekly shook my head. "For close to an hour! You need to tell me when these things happen, maybe some time by yourself might sort you out. You're terrifying the other patients who are already disturbed as it is."

I closed my eyes, trying to hold back protests. The visions...the hallucinations were getting worse. I had never gotten caught before, they usually only happened when I was by myself or in the privacy of my room. This was getting bad, fast. I tried to think of something to explain my actions, but the cupboard was bare. I had nothing to say as I was lead to intensive care and the white room that I thought I had finally left behind.

* * *

_**June 4, 2005.**_

* * *

"And Rose marveled at the audacity of this strange man in front of her. 'I live here!' She exclaimed, wondering how it came to be that she was the one answering this particular question and not the other way around.

"He seemed baffled and a bit shocked, asking-'What did you go and do that for?'-as if it was she was the odd one here!

"Feeling the slightest bit cross at his attitude, Rose retorted, 'Because I do. I'm only at home because _someone_ blew up my job.' She had the feeling that he was only half-listening to her as he dug through his leather coat. Rose frowned, wondering if those were the same clothes that he had worn yesterday. Before she could take a closer examination, he drew something out of his pocket that captured her interest. A silver, tube-like object that looked like an extra large pen was modified into a laser-pointer.

"'I must have got the wrong signal,' he murmured to himself as it whirled and warbled. Then he looked at her suspiciously, asking, 'You're not plastic, are you?' Abruptly, he rapped her on the forehead with his knuckles. 'No, bonehead. Bye, then!'

"He made to draw away from her and make his exit, but Rose was having none of it. Collecting her scattered wits, she reached forward and snagged him by the arm and forcibly pulled him into her house, rather unconsciously using the same tone a mother might use, 'You. Inside. Right now.' The door slamming behind them cut off any protests that he might've made." With a sigh, I closed the book, finished with the chapter to my audiences displeasure. Much like small children they asked me to read more, but I firmly shook my head. "Tomorrow," I promised.

It wasn't my intention to start this, but one of the patients asked was I writing and I told them, only for them to beg me to read them just one page. I actually enjoyed reading it out aloud, and one page turned into a another...By the time I finished the first chapter, I had a handful of people quietly listening to me read. Embarrassed I had stopped and retreated to my room, but the next day in the cafeteria, they asked me to read the next chapter. They persisted until I promised I would every day until I finished the book.

Now here we were, three days later, and it wasn't just a small handful of patients, but a large group with a few of the staff listening in and making sure everyone behaves. It felt...nice to have all that attention focused on me as I did something so simple as to _read_ to them. I was reminded of my brother at home, and how I'd read out loud to them. For once, I also had something to look forward to at the end of each day.

* * *

**_July 11, 2005._**

* * *

"And it was to their misfortune, that they had been too close, for they promptly found themselves covered in green slime." A chorus of varying degrees of disgust was heard in the background, and I smiled as I shut the book. Only a few more chapters and it would be finished.

My stomach churned at the thought. I was catching up to the timeline in the book, soon they'd visit Utah in the 2005 and...I shuddered. I would finish this book and then I would be done. I couldn't go on like this. It would just be a small hiatus, surely there would be other things to occupy everyone's time?

Maybe I could just skip one... But that would leave my audience wondering where Adam came from.

I grimaced, I couldn't avoid it. Besides, I would have to introduce the Daleks at one point, they were one of the Doctor's biggest enemies. '_Just a few more chapters_,' I told myself. '_Then I'll take a break, surely, no one will mind? It's a just a story_...'

I ignored the stab of hurt at the thought.

* * *

_**July 28, 2005.**_

* * *

"Well, Penny, it appears that your story-telling is getting quite popular in the hospital."

"..." I didn't respond.

Dr. Pierce tried again, "The other patients I've talked to love your stories, they make the days better for others. They have something to look forward to now. Why have you stopped?"

"...Do you know what year it is in your time?" I deflecting sullenly.

Dr. Pierce sighed, "It's 2005 in _everyone's _time, Penny."

"It's supposed to be 2015," I snapped before sighing, weary. Grimly, I continued, attempting to gather my thoughts, "The next story has the-the Dalek I told...um, Dr. O'Connell about in it."

"Dalek?" Dr. Pierce frowned, obvious not remembering any session that I had been before where I mentioned, described, and _drew _the creature. I was starting to get the feeling that she never actually listened to me, she just heard what was said and recorded it before deleting the 'useless' information from her mind. I think she never really cared, no matter how much I wanted to believe in the contrary. "What's that?"

I ignored her question, miffed, "It's 2005 in-in your time that it takes place. What if...What if…" I couldn't bring myself to continue. Instead, I asked, "Is there...such a thing as 'Torchwood' or-or 'UNIT?'"

"No, Penny. Those organizations don't exist," Dr. Pierce was quick to deny, too quick to be telling the truth, but I as doped up as I was, I believed her. She was my psychiatrist. She was supposed to tell me what was real and what wasn't.

So, I believed her.

* * *

_**November 23, 2005.**_

* * *

"What do you mean closing? Is it, is it that time already?" I asked, surprised. "I knew it was sometime in 2005, n-no longer treating patients, before completely closing in-in 2008 and being put up for sale, but-"

"Penny," Dr. Pierce warned.

"Sorry, you were saying, Doctor?" I asked unrepentantly. So what if I was being cheeky and sounded like I was making stuff up, I wasn't!

"Penny, you remember what we told you, right?" Dr. Pierce persisted, looking at me sternly. I held her gaze for a moment or two before submitting, adverting my eyes and deflating.

"Sorry, Doctor," I said a little guiltily. "I'll try not to do it again, sorry. I'll be good, really, I'm sorry…"

She sighed, "It's fine, no need to get yourself worked up."

"I'm still a good girl, right?" I persisted, not wanting to go back to the white room. I had already been in the intensive care a few times these past few months because I didn't keep my visions, my hallucinations, under control. It was only recently that they had finally lowered the amount of anti-psychotics by a bit, I didn't want to go back to the near constant haze of confusion. This fog wasn't enjoyable, but it was a far cry better than the other option.

"Yes, Penny, you are," Dr. Pierce responded, almost impatiently. Briskly, she continued, "Anyway, the patients are being moved to Fergus Falls Community Behavior Health Hospital. You'll be staying there from now on."

"Okay, when will we start up our sessions, then?" I asked expectantly.

"We won't," Dr. Pierce said with relish.

"What?" I asked, sure that I had misheard, but feeling within my heart that I hadn't.

"We won't, you'll be transferred to another psychiatrist. I've been promoted because of my breakthroughs with you. I'm going to another mental institution in Anoka. I'm going to be the Head of Directories." She smiled, all her teeth showing, obviously happy. I couldn't help but feel hurt, though. I had forgotten that I was only one of many patients here, if just a bit stranger.

I was nothing but a case study in the end, my life was nothing but fiction to them.

* * *

_**January 2, 2006.**_

* * *

Dr. Dogers was a nervous man. He didn't hide all too well and was extremely jittery, making me nervous in turn. His smiles were quick and brief, as if they had never been there. It turned out at one point he 'had' anxiety disorder. I say 'had' with a pinch of salt, because to me, it seemed like he still had it.

"Penny Carter, it's nice to meet you. I am your new psychiatrist," he began, his voice surprisingly deep and steady, going start to the point.

"...Hi," I said, bringing my knees to rest up with me on the couch, hugging them to my chest. It seemed like a good place to rest my head.

I fell asleep.

* * *

_**February 13, 2006.**_

* * *

I began writing again and reading my stories out loud. I only had to write the Dalek episode that I had skipped, as I had already written up to the Game Station Episode where the Daleks return. I reassured myself that it was Rose's missing year, I could write all I wanted, the Dalek was gone. This year was relatively safe until Rose and the Doctor returned. Still, I avoided that episode, dreaded it. I hadn't touched the book, but I had thought that the patients had been waiting long enough and had started to re-read the previous books...I was in no way prepared for the warm welcome I received from my audience who still remembered my stories. To be honest, I was also a bit flattered.

I only got bothered when they insisted that I should make it public.

"Penny, you should publish your stories!" Mrs. Char exclaimed. "I've listened in, and they are like nothing I've ever heard before! I usually don't watch or read sci-fi stuff, since it goes over my head most of the time, but those stories are great!"

I kept on running, holding onto the bar to ensure I didn't lose my balance on the treadmill. I used my exercise as an excuse to not comment.

"Yeah," Jo-lee, my supervisor for the day agreed. "It's pretty awesome stuff. If it was a T.V. show, I'd watch it."

I tried to ignore them, setting the speed up at a faster pace to drown out their voices.

_Breathe in. Breathe out._

"I can help you with the process too," Mrs. Char continued. "I know a guy who has a friend whose wife is cousins with the head publisher from some company. I can put in a good word for you, get your work to go directly to her."

_Breathe in. Breathe out._

"Oh, how nice! What a great opportunity! This could be a job for you, a livelihood, if your books get published."

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Run faster._

"Yeah, if you make enough, you can leave this place, get your own house!"

_Hit the stop button and slow to a walk, panting._

"What do you think?" Jo-lee pressed.

"I...am sick...I am...unfit...to leave this...hospital," I responded between puffs, as I walked off the treadmill, breathing hard. The two women watched me, stunned, as I left for the showers.

So far, I was the only person who held the hard copies of my books. I held the only attachment to my previous life in my own arms. I wanted to keep it that way. It was something special, private. However, it wasn't only Mrs. Char and Jo-lee. After I had started up my story telling again, most of the staff that listened in had requested that I gave them copies so they could read it themselves. This would mean that I would have to write several copies of the same thing.

I didn't much enjoy that thought.

However, I found that I couldn't refuse them, as the idea seemed needlessly cruel. Conflicted, it was only with my next visit with Dr. Dogers that I made up my mind.

"I heard you have finally started your next book."

"Yes, it's 2006, her missing year."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Superstitious, I am...superstitious," I answer instead.

"So I see," Dr. Dogers nodded jerkily, jotting down some notes.

"They want me to publish."

"I've heard," Dogers confirmed.

"I don't want to."

"I've heard that also," he kept on writing.

"What do you think I should do?" The writing stopped, his hand frozen above the clipboard. "What should I do, Doctor?" I repeated, insistently.

"It's not my-"

"What should I do?" I pressed.

"...Publish," he finally said after a long pause.

"Why?" I asked settling back into my seat, now that he started to give me straight answers, something easy for me to understand.

"To confirm or confront your fears, whatever they may be," he took off his reading glasses, finally looking me in the eyes. I looked back, entranced. "Either they come true or they prove false. You should know by this year's end...if you publish now."

"Thank you," I said, smiling genuinely.

Dr. Dogers looked away, "Don't thank me for doing my job, Penny."

Then, it was with some more thought and no small amount of laziness on my part, that I opened up a free website and posted the stories online. Technically, it was open to the public and everyone would be able to read it, but I was so sure that no one would be interested. It would be like Clive's website, no one but the staff and alien enthusiasts would notice. If people were companions of the Doctor or knew about him, chances were they wouldn't go looking on the world-wide web to find him.

I was not at all prepared for what would actually occur...

* * *

_**November 26, 2006.**_

* * *

"Penny, what made you write these books? Where would you say they came from?" The reporter asked eagerly, hushed, since she technically wasn't supposed to be there.

"It's just a way to-to get the ideas out of my head, to k-keep everything stra-straight. So, I wrote about...a mad man in a blue box," I said quietly. The other sound in the room was the sound of our breathing, my voice, and her tape recorder that was recording every word of the secret interview.

"So, you consider the Doctor as an angry individual?"

I paused before giving a brief smile, "No, not really, not when he had Rose...He's more of a sad and lonely old man.. The last of his kind with no home to go to anymore."

"What do you mean by 'mad,' then?"

"I meant the British slang definition."

"Which means…?" She pressed, and suddenly, I knew what she wanted from me, I frowned.

"It means crazy, and he is. Over sixteen hundred years would probably do that to anyone."

"So, if you could describe him in one word, it would be 'crazy?'" The reporter pressed again with a funny look in her eyes. I didn't like it.

"No, the word I would use...is _kind. _1,674 years of loss, pain, and sadness...and it just made him more kind. He's lonely, the last of his species. When someone cries out for help, he's usually the first there on the scene, saving the Universe, saving the Earth." I was badly butchering the line that Amy would use to describe the Doctor, but I couldn't really bring myself to care all that much.

"So, he's a superhero? What about Cassandra? What about that Dalek? That wasn't very hero-like…"

"When p-people think of heroes," I started, trying to collect my thoughts."They think of...stereotypical, knight-in-shining-armor. They don't exist, not really. The Doctor's a soldier from a war...He made an impossible decision, the hardest one, to-to save everything that ever was or will be. He-He tries to be merciful, gives chances, but with...with people like Cassandra or that Dalek, there...aren't any. Erm, I mean…" I fumbled for a bit before stopping, unable to continue that line of thought. Finally, I said, "The Doctor is what happens...when a good man goes to war."

"..." The reporter was stunned.

"Th-Thank you for visiting me, b-but you better leave now, if you don't...if you don't want to get in trouble…"

"R-right, thank you for having an interview with me, Penny. H-have a good night."

"Likewise."

* * *

_**November 29, 2006.**_

* * *

"Penny, Penny, look, look, you're on the news!" Mrs. Zimmerman crooned, delighted. "Come, come! Come and see!"

Reluctantly, I looked up at the television where there was, in fact, a picture of my face staring back unsmilingly. My eyes were too wide, skin too pale, hair long and slightly bushy, face unearthly still.

I looked crazy.

"_Penny Carter is currently a new, hot, best-selling author for both online stories _and _book in print, surpassing even that of Stephenie Meyer in popularity in Young Adult Literature. The series, _'Doctor Who,'_ has taken the internet world by storm. Not much is known about the author, besides what has been provided by the Fergus Falls Community Behavior Health Hospital. She-"_

I turned the television off by walking over and pressing the power button. Without another word, I left the room.

* * *

_**December 1, 2006.**_

* * *

"So, you had an interview, your statements are public now," Dr. Dogers said, twitching nervously, like usual.

"..." I didn't say anything, staring off into space.

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't...really _care _anymore," I muttered. "I'm just so _tired._ I can't think straight. I can't sleep. I can't think. I can only write."

"Do you want to stop? You can take something that-"

"No!" I leaped out of my seat, causing Dr. Dogers to jolt back, startled. I took a calming breath, "No...It's just...it's how I remain sane. Please don't take that away from me…" I sank back down in my seat, but Dr. Dogers still remained tense and alert, watching me with new sight.

"Alright…"

* * *

_**May 3, 2007.**_

* * *

I was answering fan mail, something that never ceased to amaze me, when I first came across him (well, I assumed it was a him). It was his username that originally intrigued me, _Masterofyourfate_. I had laughed to myself, because it had reminded me of a song from so long ago...one that I had obviously made up as well as the band that sang it.

Still, it was all too appropriate considering the name of the villain I would be introducing in the future.

He seemed amused too when I referred to him as 'Master' when I responded to his question, "_Are you for certain that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords?_"

"_Well, he certainly believes so, /Master/. Nice username_."

He was quick to type back, "_People believe a lot of things, doesn't always mean it's true. That's my name, don't wear it out_."

"_Well, if you're so sure, how would the Doctor not sense him sooner?_"

"_Aha, so there /is/ someone_."

I stared at the screen numbly, absent-mindedly thanking my foresight to always responding to questions privately. Eventually, I decided to be honest with him. "_Yes, there is, but he won't be popping up for a while. Not while the Doctor is like this_."

"_What, does he do some alien, Time Lord thing and swap bodies or something?_" This message seemed to be almost mocking, as if the writer behind it knew more than I did. I was unsettled by this notion. My long pause in answering seemed to prove him all the proof he needed. "_He does, doesn't he?_"

Again, I was forced to concede, "_Yes, he does...Is it that obvious? Maybe my foreshadowing in the first book was a bit much_."

"_You practically delivered me the answer on the platter when he mentioned his ears_." But this response seemed to ring false, as if he was indulgently agreeing with me, letting me believe what I wanted to. I dismissed this thought as paranoid.

"_Then I suppose I won't have to tell you to not mention this to anyone?_"

"_I'll do what I like, sweetheart_." I huffed at my computer, offended by his blasé manner. Another chill of unease struck me when he proceeded to type in. "_Do right by me. I hate looking like a fool_."

I didn't respond, instead I immediately exited out of the tab.

* * *

_**September 30, 2007.**_

* * *

I was getting more and more unsettled as the year went on. The user, _Masterofyourfate_, was the least of my worries at the moment. I think media went absolutely bonkers. The spaceships, aliens, mass hypnotisms... Honestly, I was a bit disgusted. I remember back at home how they treated the Malaysian flight that went missing, claiming it was _aliens_ of all things, only to find past of the wreckage strew here and there.

Maybe they were trying to get me to step up as be a spectacle, claiming that I knew the future or something like a fame-crazed person. I was already in a mental institution, it probably wasn't too big of a step for them to assume I would get stars in my eyes and lose what little common sense I _do_ have left. I already had them idly mentioning how my books had much of the same incidents presented in the books.

The final straw that broke the camel's back came when my creepy user sent me, "_Could you tell me the future of this other Time Lord? Does he succeed in taking over the world?_"

"_Stop it, you shouldn't know these things. It's all fiction! I can't predict the future, alright? Coincidence_." Then I proceeded to block him from my website and e-mail address. If there was one thing I could take control of in my life, it would be that.

* * *

_**March 28, 2008.**_

* * *

I stayed in either my room or the chapel most days then, too anxious to leave or be anywhere else most times. Something had happened, I knew, I just didn't remember what. I refused to watch the news or the television. I especially avoided the other patients, some of them insisted that I was a prophet or a seer. '_They're crazy_,' I said to myself. '_Just like me, they're sick and not in their right mind. Aliens don't exist..._'

But still, the foreboding feeling that I had forgotten something terribly important plagued my mind.

I became a social shut in, not even reading my stories out loud anymore like I once did. It was the only other thing I did besides praying at the chapel, holed up in my room, or ran on the treadmill like my life depended on it. It was the one thing the really, truly ever made me happy, and it...it was starting to fade away. I was starting to forget that joy as my mind got more and more clouded. It scared me, so I started running less and less.

I was wasting away, I could feel it. I was losing myself. I was wasting away, my sanity diminishing.

I doubted everything. As far as I was concerned, I was a mentally ill, paranoid, and delusional individual. And I wasn't, not really, but with the medicine I was taking, forcing this fog in my mind, I was more susceptible to influence by others. They were so sure that I was crazy, that I believed it too, and developed the habits and tendencies of a disturbed person.

I was wasting away, and it was killing me, slowly, I was dying.

But there was one thing, one thought that plagued my mind constantly.

Every morning, every day, every evening, every night, always, _constantly, _at every waking-and sometimes sleeping-moment.

"_What have I forgotten?"_

* * *

_**September 5, 2008.**_

* * *

Not even my timid theory that I held proved true. I didn't somehow go into a parallel dimension to where the Doctor was, like I had thought, hoped. Maybe this was for the better. I could finally accept this as proof that everything I had thought was real, was actually false. This must've been the wake up signal I was looking for.

Still, even if only to myself privately, I had the sinking feeling that even if everything was real and the Doctor did exist, he wouldn't be able to return me home.

My home was gone, I knew it.

Deep in my heart, I knew this to be true.

* * *

_**December 23, 2008.**_

* * *

Lately, I had been struck with a feeling of homesickness, a longing for home after my acceptance of its false nature and figurative demise. Unfortunately, I had nothing to describe it differently from Reality, as it was too similar.

So, I wrote about what I knew was false.

I wrote about Gallifrey, a home that was also gone forever. I felt that, in that moment, the Doctor and I were one and the same: _homeless._

I blinked.

_Burnt orange skies with grey wisps of clouds flying…_

The sky was a rusty-tangerine color that somehow didn't surprise me as I looked up and over to the horizon. Two suns were at different locations as they went through their nine hour time in the sky with the moon, _Pazithi Gallifreya_, going through her twenty-seven day orbit, bright enough to be seen while the other moon hid almost shyly. Often the sky also flashed purple, green, and yellow lights, and sometimes, the sky flashed the soft baby-blue that we always saw up in our sky.

Startled at the sudden onslaught of information, I blinked again.

_Winds whisper through the silver leaves with a soft sighing…_

The scintillating, metallic-esque foliage glimmered at night, sending rays of the two moons' soft glow as it reflected off of them. The steel-colored leaves grew on the Kaden-Wood trees. Their natural color was silver, but it could appear to set itself aflame in the suns-light, varying from angry-orange, golden-yellow, scarlet-red, and occasional a reddish-violet. When the wind blew through it most times, they sighed in various pitches, but it was autumn. When the wind blew through and around the leaves, they sang as they were caressed by the gentle breeze.

Blink.

_Red grasses brush against our legs as we dance slowly…_

I could feel the grass, long that it was, and I saw a woman ahead of me spinning in slow, lazy circles. Her hair blowing from the soft zephyrs as they blew gently on the warm, autumn air. She seemed to sing in chorus with the Kaden-Wood trees as she swayed with them in the wind. _"Join me, join me..." _She called, urging me to twirl and be weightless against the wind so I could dance in it with her.

Blink.

_My love lasts forever and comes while I remember fondly…_

I was in golden fields of the Continent of Serene Isolation near the Ruins of Temple Rythia. The Maldor trees crying out in the own haunting way, but not quite as wistfully or pining as the Kaden-Wood trees; the bronze leave writhing and shivering as the trees swayed slightly. The bronze trees let out a keening lament as if grieving over the lost city and its absent Time Lords and Gallifreyans. They, the people, never usually came here, so far away from civilization and most of the outsiders were either in the wastelands, forests, or mountains.

I saw her, the woman, again as she closed her eyes and lamented with the trees, giving voice to their melancholy song, _"That day has gone and they are no longer...We are forsaken, there's no time anymore...Life will pass us by and leave us resigned...We are forsaken, only ruins stay behind..." _Her voice wavered as it rose and fell, mourning their loss and loneliness. She sang with a sort of controlled tremulousness, her voice ached with vulnerability, but never broke.

Blink.

_Snowflakes that drift from the heavens like fallen stars…_

Snow fell from the skies very rarely on Gallifrey, even though they were in the middle of what was considered an ice age, since rain was few and far between. My breath fogged the air in front of me. The fragile flakes rested on my eyelashes as they fluttered rapidly, blinking to keep the snowflakes out of my eyes. When I closed my eyelids, I felt the water crystals carefully land there and melt slowly. I remained standing, eyes closed, but the moment I opened them, the scenery changed.

_And catching shimmering beatitude flies in glass jars…_

I could smell the crisp night air and the scent of fragrant, blue, bell-like flowers. The flashing bugs came to the mountains only a few times every four seasons out of their twenty-four. It was a favorite game for young Gallifreyan to go catch these glistening and glittering creatures in fogged stained-glass jars. The jars were never in a plain white or yellow. They came in a variety of colors like reds, blues, greens, oranges, purples, and other colors that were outside of the color range of most species. The beatitude flies only came out (or maybe were only easy to find) after the both the suns had set and it became night. For that short period of time, the phosphorescent bodies were truly visible and shone clear and bright in the dim light of the moons.

Laughter rang in the fields as the children listened for the tell-tale _chir-reep! chir-re-eep!_ of those gorgeous flies, hard to catch but so beautiful to behold in those glass jars. An hour before dawn, just when the other beatitude flies were leaving, they released the ones they had caught all at once. A glorious blizzard and vortex of light occurred from the flies dancing in the night air. The symphony of the cries of _chir-reep! chir-re-eep!_ surrounded us all.

With a gasp and a jolt, I broke out of my trace, panting. I rested shaking hands against my throbbing head, trying to soothe the sudden migraine that had appeared. Paranoid, my eyes quickly scoped the room for any witnesses.

I was alone.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_**Edit:**_I combined the old chapters 4 and 5. It made more cohesive sense.

_**Edit 2:** _I also added more sections and stuff...Tried to make things less choppy, but I doubt I succeeded.

**_Poll: _**Closed. The winner is the Tenth Doctor at seven votes. His companion will be Donna.

**_Explanations:_**

*The undifferentiated subtype is diagnosed when people have symptoms of schizophrenia that are not sufficiently formed or specific enough to permit classification of the illness into one of the other subtypes. The symptoms of any one person can fluctuate at different points in time, resulting in uncertainty as to the correct subtype classification. Other people will exhibit symptoms that are remarkably stable over time but still may not fit one of the typical subtypes.

* Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center is an actual place in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. It was closed in 2005, but it had been moving patients to smaller, community-based facilities for two decades. Minnesota sold the land to Fergus Falls in 2007. In May 2012, the building's future was uncertain. Preservationists have fought to save the main building, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Yet the city of Fergus Falls argued that the building was too large for a small town to redevelop or maintain and has considered demolishing it. In October 2012, Colliers Real Estate listed the building for sale. In May 2013, the City Council considered plans to renovate the building for residential and commercial use by developers, including one with experience in preservation of historic June the same year, a proposal was accepted by the City Council to renovate the building. The proposal included a hotel, apartments, restaurants, and a spa.

* Fergus Falls Community Behavioral Health Hospital is a hospital close to the Regional Treatment Center.

* Some of the side-effects of Lurasidone are: Absence of or decrease in body movement, loss of balance control, mask-like face, restlessness, rigid or stiff muscles, shakiness in the legs/arms/hands/feet, shuffling walk, confusion, dizziness, fixed position of the eye, nervousness, pale skin, unusual tiredness or weakness, weakness in the arm or leg on one side of the body (sudden and severe), loss of appetite, anxiety, relaxed and calm, unable to sleep, and abnormal dreams, among other things.

* The Fifth that Dr. Pierce was referring to was the right to remain silent.

*I have no clue whether or not "Head of Directories" is the right term, but I think it works alright.

* Before there is further confusion, Penny is only an online author, currently. She would have written up to 'The Empty Child' online in the year 2009. She won't start publishing in print until 2010 with the first book: 'Doctor Who: Rose.'

* Yes, the number 1,647 was correct. The Doctor was over 900 years old in his seventh regeneration. Then he claimed to be 900 once again in his ninth regeneration. Something wasn't adding up.

'**1150** (1 year before the War)

**1151** (a few days before the Event) The Ancestor Cell (from Gallifrey's POV): The Doctor (who is only 1018 at this point) arrives on Gallifrey and offers to supply Type 102 TARDISes and solve the riddle of the Edifice.

**1807** (900 AF) (900 years after starting over on counting his age / after 900 years of traveling time and space / he might actually be older than 900 years old)'

As quoted from the site _Rassilon, Omega, and that Other guy_. With a bit of mathematical magic, I calculated his age. The site also mentioned the Doctor being reborn at one point, but I think that was from a doomed timeline that doesn't exist anymore, it's hard to tell. The Doctor has a super confusing timeline, seriously. :/ At the point Penny meets the Doctor, he's 1,677 years old, yeah.

* As to what she's forgotten, I've given you all the clues you need in the date. What happened in Doctor Who lore in the Year 2008, or rather, what happened for a year and then _didn't_ happen?

* Those cool, rhyme-y, poem, lyric-like stuff is part of the poem I did for Gallifrey which can be found on my profile, titled: 'A Lament for Gallifrey.' Not as lame as it sounds, I swear!

* Also the part that the woman sang for the Maldor trees is based off of the song 'Forsaken' by Within Temptation. It totally set the mood for this chapter!

* * *

**_Advertisements:_**

**TITLE: **The Stars and a Little Bit More

**AUTHOR: **ArcticJacs

**ID: **10177874

**SUMMARY: **Kylie isn't a stranger to time and space travel. Far from it. She has a Timepiece embedded into her arm, and it has given her the opportunity to see things out of this world - literally. She never expected it to crash, though. She didn't expect to find herself stranded in Earth. And she never, ever, expected to find stuff of legends and stories: the last Time Lord. [DoctorxOC]

**OPINION: **It's different, finally I found a fan fiction where the main character is an alien that isn't a Time Lord! It's worth checking out, I assure you. It takes place with the Judoon Upon the Moon, and it goes from there. Kylie's personality is also a bit different from usual. A refreshing read.

* * *

**TITLE: **The Traveler's Guide to the Universe

**AUTHOR: **Fan Fictional Authoress

**ID:** 9366006

**SUMMARY: **My sister had made it seem so easy, being an explorer and star-grapher. I wanted to go out there so badly, and she wanted to be a professor but there was no job openings. We were identical twins before I left and it was so perfect! But I left for the great big universe and everyone died, everything changed. I travel with the one who killed them, but he is all I have left of home.

**OPINION: **It may be a little self-serving to advertise my own story, but why not? It is probably my most researched story I ever made besides my 'A Ring of Endless Light' fan fiction. Also a different take on an overused plot that is rarely done well. So why don't you check it out?

* * *

_**Thought Process:**_

First thing's first, I would like to thank my lovely Beta, emptyvoices, for being awesome and helping me through the painful process that is chapter six. I'm hoping that the chapters will get easier from there, but we'll see.

Spring Break has started for me, but I'm not going to update any faster. Instead, I'm going to stock up on chapters and slowly dole them out, that way there shouldn't be long hiatuses... Is that right? Hiatuses? Or is it hiati?

Whatever.

Penny is in a mental institution. Things get worse for Penny's sanity from here... There might be some triggers, I don't know for sure, but just in case, be warned. The next chapter is when the Doctor finally comes on the scene.

So yeah, in this chapter, Penny's finally starting to lose it. Yay... You know, the sad thing is, when Penny was first admitted, she was almost completely sane (or as much as a person could be for all she went through) but now she's actually starting to lose it. Weird how that works right? ...Wow, that sounded terrible. Just ignore it, yeah, pretend this paragraph doesn't exist.

Things will start to look up for Penny after this chapter.

That was a lie I just told you.

It get worse for Penny.

Much, much worse.

I'm such a liar.

Really, I am.

And evil.

So, yeah, I think that's about it... Bless your face, and if you sneezed during this chapter, bless you.

Happy Friday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

P.S. - Vote Saxxon!

_Old Chapter 4's Date Submitted: _Friday, March 21, 2014.

_Old Chapter 5's Date Submitted: _Monday, March 24, 2014.

_Date Updated: _Friday, March 28, 2014.


	4. I Doubted Myself

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them._**

* * *

After a delicious meal in the kitchen and a nice, long shower, Donna wanted nothing more than to curl up with a good book next to a fireplace. Did the TARDIS even have a fireplace for that matter? '_Then again_,' thought Donna, '_if a space-ship could travel through time and space, was bigger on the inside, and seemed to go on forever in any direction, it was bound to have a fireplace of some sort...probably.'_

The trouble was finding said fireplace or a book at the very least. It might've been more prudent to just give up the search as a lost cause and attempt to find her own room before it got too late, but if Donna was one thing, it was stubborn and _very_ stubborn at that. And also, because she was Donna, she _did_ find the library, after a good bit of searching. Donna's first impression of it was cavernous; simply_ massive_. The British Library, _the largest library in the world_, probably didn't have smidgen of the amount of books in this library.

Donna wondered if this was the largest library in the Universe, and, if not, what was? She vowed to ask the Doctor that later after scoping out this one. Surely, he wouldn't mind if she snooped around a bit, found a couple of good mystery books or, ironically, some sci-fi novels.

Donna snorted, _aliens_, reading _sci-fi _books, they were probably stuck between laughing and being insulted.

Knowing the Doctor, they were a comedy to him, good for a laugh as he tore the theories apart. She could hear him now, "Wrong, wrong, wrong...Ooh, a bit right but mostly wrong...Hey, I started that line of thinking _ages _ago..."

Stifling her laughter, Donna made her way to the science fiction section of the library as denoted by a very large and very helpful sign. Scanning through the volume titles, she wondered which book she should offer to him to read. She also wondered how long it would take him to realize he was reading a sci-fi book if she switched its removable sleeves with that of a mystery book.

_**Thump!**_

Donna jumped and whirled around, arms up as if to punch the lights out of any nearby attacker. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on whether you were the attacker or Donna, there was nothing there but a book that had appeared to have fallen from one the shelves. Still, Donna peered around suspiciously before shaking the event off as nothing extraordinary. Maybe the TARDIS was helping her pick out a book, the Doctor did say something about it being telepathic.

'_Thanks, I guess,'_ Donna thought, trying to broadcast her thoughts to the sentient ship. _'Next time, though, try not to kill me with fright, took about ten years off of my life.' _Curious as to the TARDIS's taste in books, Donna picked it up, only to just about drop it again in surprise at the title: _'Doctor Who: Rose.'_

"What on Earth…" Donna muttered, eyes scanning the front briefly before flipping it over to read the description on the back.

'_Rose Tyler is just an ordinary shop worker living an ordinary life in 21st century Britain. But that life is turned upside down when a strange man calling himself The Doctor drags her into an alien invasion attempt!'_

"Now,_ I wonder _why _that_ sounds familiar?" Donna quipped sarcastically. "He didn't tell me he was famous enough to end up in a book. I wonder what year it was published in, let's see…" The sound of ruffling pages could be heard as Donna opened the book and he page with all the publisher information. After a quick search, Donna was stunned to find the date-

"2010?" She cried in disbelief. "This was published not too far away from my time, and I never even noticed? Better yet, he never even said anything? A certain space-man has got a lot of explaining to do… Being famous and not saying anything..." Abandoning her previous goals of a curling up with a good book next to the fire and tricking the Doctor to read a sci-fi book, Donna exited the library, determined to get some answers, and maybe ask for an autograph as a laugh.

She wandered the halls, getting more and more hopelessly lost. Fed up, she hollered out, "Doctor? Doctor! ...Oi, Space-man! You should install a map in here or something. It's like labyrinth in here." Still, she got no answer from her wayward pilot. There was, however, a sound of something shifting and moving. Curious, she followed the sound and peek around the corridor.

Before her very eyes, the hallways shifted and moved until they became one straight hallway. If she listened, Donna could hear the sound of music playing loudly down the newly created hallway. "Well that explains some things. Shifting hallways, it's as bad as Hogwarts castle in here. No wonder why there aren't any maps in here. They wouldn't be of any use!"

Now confident of her destination, Donna jogged down the hallway to the console room. She found the Doctor underneath the console, tinkering away to some loud music that was blaring. She could spot his trainer-clad feet waving side to side in time with the tune. His voice was cheerfully joining in chorus, _"We can go when we want to. The night is young and so am I. And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet, and surprise 'em with the victory cry-"_

"-Doctor," Donna interrupted, trying to gain his attention.

The Doctor didn't hear her. _"Say, we can act if we want to. If we don't, nobody will. And you can act real rude and totally removed. And I can act like an imbecile-"_

"-Oi, Space-man!"

He jumped, knocking his head and letting out a loud groan, curling up slightly, "Ow! That hurt!" Scooting out from under the control panel and flicking a button that turned off the music, he peered up at her, "Alright there, Donna?"

"I could ask you the same thing! Didn't hit your head too hard, did you?" She asked bending down slightly.

"Nah," he waved her concern off. "It's fine."

"Yeah, I suppose. You're a bit thick sometimes, it _would_ take a tad more than that, wouldn't it?"

"Hey, I'm not _that_ bad...usually."

"Ha, right, Space-man. Anyway, what do you make of this?" Donna handed him the book she found in the library, watching his reaction closely, more than ready to jokingly ask him for that autograph. The Doctor wiped out his glasses and slipped them on, peering at the book. Eyebrows raised, he flipped it over to read that back.

Rather abruptly, the slightly amused expression he had been wearing froze and slipped from his face completely. Hurriedly, he checked the publisher information as he scrambled to his feet. "Donna, this is very important. I need you to tell me how you found this book."

"I didn't find it, it found me! I was in the library, looking for something to read in the science fiction section when that fell from a shelf." Donna shrugged.

"For no reason?" He persisted, eyes gazing at her intently, eyes alternating between glancing at the book, the console he was fiddling with, and her.

"None that I could see. Also, you need to get a map. If the TARDIS hadn't rearranged the hallways, it would've taken me ages longer to get here. It's a bloody maze in there."

"The TARDIS rearranging the hallways? A book about my past randomly falling from a shelf? ...And now a random date close to the one in the book already set up for us to go to," the Doctor mused out loud. "I think the Old Girl is trying to tell us something."

"A brilliant deduction, Sherlock," Donna said flatly.

"Why, thank you, Watson," the Doctor volleyed back. _"Allonse-y!"_

* * *

"So you're saying that this book isn't supposed to exist?" Donna asked.

"Nope!" The Doctor answered airily.

"And you're saying if we don't find out who's publishing these books, it could endanger the timelines?"

"Yep," he answered, popping the 'p.'

"...And you're just going to hack into the US records for the author, find out their address, and go investigate this person before removing all records of these books online?"

"Yep, the books are only online so far in May 2009 where we're headed. This book that you found doesn't get published until a year and two months later in July. I'm going to put this virus," he waved a cd between his thumb and forefinger, drawing attention to it. "In a computer as soon as we step outside, and it will remove all records of me everywhere."

Donna chewed on that for a bit as the Doctor continued to type away. "Alright, alright...that's fine and all, but won't that, oh, I don't know, mess up your timelines still?"

"What do you mean?" He finally looked up at her.

"Well, if you erase it, it won't have existed, so we'd have never found out about it. Then it wouldn't have been published as a book, and I wouldn't be able to tell you then. And-"

"Whoa there, Donna, that's an easy fix," the Doctor assured her.

"How do you mean?"

"I go get a book made to look exactly like this," the Doctor waved the book side to side, continuing, "And then put it in the TARDIS library. I think I got a Duplicator Ray Gun _somewhere_… What? What's that look for?"

"A Duplicator Ray Gun?" Donna asked in disbelief.

"I didn't come up with the name," he defended himself. "The DRG is still pretty brilliant, no need to knock it."

"You know what? Forget it. So who's the author and where does he or she live? Also, what are we going to do about 'em?"

"The author is Penelope Elaine Carter, ooh, I like that, Penelope Elaine Carter. Kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it?" At Donna's look, he cleared his throat, "Right, well, I don't really know what we're going to do yet, Donna, but this needs to stop, regardless. Anyway, according to this, Penelope Elaine Carter lives in...Oh."

"_Oh?_ Oh, _what?"_ Donna asked, alarmed. "She's not _dead_ is she?"

"What? No! It's just that, well…"

"Well, _what?_ Just spit it out!"

"She lives at Fergus Falls Community Behavioral Health Hospital."

"Meaning?"

"Penelope Elaine Carter is in a mental institution."

"Oh."

* * *

"Hello, I'm the Doctor!" Said Doctor pleasantly greeted the reception desk, only to get a flat look from the lady manning it and suspicious glances from a nurse that was off-duty.

"_The_ Doctor?" She asked carefully, finger discreetly hovering over the panic button.

Quickly realizing his mistake, the Doctor continued, "Yes, the one who came all the way across the pond to see one Penelope Elaine Carter. I'm Dr. Smith, the new psychiatrist that she was transferred to. I work for the Cygnet Hospital Harrogate in Yorkshire. We specialize with cases like Penelope's, and it is to both her benefit and ours that we've come here to help."

The suspicious looks died away and the nurse manning the desk was a bit more forthcoming. "Oh, I see. In that case, please let me see your credentials and transfer documentation."

Internally sighing in relief, the Doctor handed over the forged documentation to the woman before looking at Donna with both eyebrows raised and a relieved grin. Donna returned the grin with a smile of her own, before looking back at the nurse behind the desk. "Chief Physician Smith, everything seems to be in order. I'm sure you'll want to meet with our Chief Physician, Dr. Kowalski, and Penny's current psychiatrist, Dr. Dogers, before bringing her with you back to England."

"That would be brilliant. Also, my assistant, Miss Noble here, would like to have all of Penelope's files on her case, to help decide the best courses of action and treatments necessary," the Doctor added, giving a meaningful look to Donna that basically told her to just go snoop around and maybe find Penelope.

"This way, Dr. Smith," the nurse, who had been leaning against the wall before, beckoned.

"Follow me, Miss Noble, to the file rooms. They aren't too far away, so I can leave the desk for a bit just to show you where they are. The files are sorted alphabetically by last name…" The woman's voice faded away as the Doctor followed his escort down the hallway to Chief Physician Kowalski's office. Hopefully, he could bluff his way through the whole thing and find out just what Penelope Elaine Carter knew and, more importantly, _how_ she knew exactly.

The Doctor had his theories, but for everyone's sake, he hoped he was wrong. The world didn't need another psychic that was as accurate as this one was, down to the last word even! Penelope could be dangerous in the wrong hands, he couldn't leave her here. She was bound to the catch the attention of UNIT or Torchwood the moment she started publishing books out in print. And with how much she knew, it would be not good. It would be _very _not good, indeed.

* * *

"Come in," a man said after the door to his office was knocked. They entered, the Doctor not too far behind the nurse. "Yes? Who's this?"

"Dr. Kowalski, sir, this is the Chief Physician of a hospital in, uh, Yorkshire, England. His name is Dr. Smith. He's here in regards to a transfer of one of our patients."

"Oh, well then, come in, come in, have a seat, Dr. Smith," Dr. Kowalski beckoned. The Doctor took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the man, casually looking around the office. The nurse excused herself, presumably to go get Dr. Dogers. "So you're here to transfer one of our patients is that right?"

The Doctor had to suppress a groan, he wasn't one for small talk, but this meeting required precision; he had to be careful, delicate, and very, _very_ lucky. "One Penelope Elaine Carter is going to be transferred to our facilities at the Cygnet Hospital Harrogate in Yorkshire. She has gained our interest as a case study in schizophrenia, as we are a researched-based facility and are hoping to learn more about the mental disorder."

"But why go overseas? I'm sure there are plenty of patients in England who are just as good of a case study as Penny," Kowalski threw out, trying to play the Devil's Advocate. The Doctor only saw it as a poor vie at a power-play, the chief Physician didn't really care whether or not Penelope got transferred in the end, not really, unless it came as a disadvantage to his hospital, which was part of the reason for his question. What would his hospital lose that some other hospital in Europe would gain?

The Doctor wanted to be disgusted or upset, but in the end, he couldn't blame Kowalski for this mindset. There must've been over a hundred patients in this particular hospital and not all of them stayed very long. This man most likely will never meet over three fifths of the patients and probably only remember a handful of them. It didn't really pay to remember each one of those people as a person. That wasn't Kowalski's job as Chief Physician, rather is was how to keep this hospital running at optimum strength. He was the perfect business man.

The Doctor carefully considered the question while maintaining an outward appearance of ease. "True, but Penelope has _complete dependence on the government._ According to her files, she has _no known family _and is considered to be a _long-term,_ possibly f_or life_, patient. She fits our criteria perfectly, as we've been looking for a case that we can observe for the _long-run_. Also, her case already has a solid base to start with, s_ix years worth_ of data! She would be a great asset in helping us find new possibilities in terms of treatment."

Kowalski's carefully veiled expression told the Doctor all he need to know that he had won the man over. Long-term patients were usually the bane of hospitals if they were dependent on the government. It was much harder to bill the government than it was families or guardians. In the end, it would benefit Kowalski more to open up a space in his hospital, since if he was able to commit more patients, he might get more income. This was not including the favor this hospital in Europe would owe him.

Kowalski finally nodded, "I accept the transfer request. We only need to have Dr. Dogers's input on the matter and his thoughts, but I'm sure he'll agree. And, if not, a good explanation and reasoning that we hopefully can come to a compromise with."

"Sir?" A deep voice came behind the Doctor, and he turned, expect anything but the twitchy, waif of a man behind him. "You wanted to see me about Penny?"

"Dr. Dogers, yes, I did. More specifically, I wanted to see you about her transfer to Cygnet Hospital in Yorkshire."

"Yes, the Cygnet Hospital _Harrogate _would like to have Penelope be admitted to their research program in terms of new treatment," the Doctor said, not so mildly correcting Kowalski.

Dr. Dogers frowned, "Why was I not informed sooner? When do you plan to take her with you?"

"Today, if possible. You see, we also have other patients that are also being transferred into our care, and we want them to have time to meet and get to know each other, since this is going to be a mixture of group and individual therapy," the Doctor fibbed smoothly, knowing that this doctor would be the hardest to convince, since this one seemed to have formed a bond of some sort with Penelope.

"Today? Penny has no warning of this at all, she doesn't do well with change," Dogers exclaimed, aghast.

"She hasn't had a change of environment since she had been admitted into this hospital," the Doctor pointed out drily. "And surely you can't be referring to small changes in routine?"

"No, but-"

"-Dr. Dogers, Penelope has been here for close to four years now, with little to no signs of improvement," Kowalski interrupted. "It would be to her benefit if she had a change in therapy, she might actually improve."

"She also might regress," Dogers stubbornly refuted. "Sir, this is so sudden and with no warning. Why haven't we been informed sooner? This man comes from nowhere, claiming to be part of a program that transfers patients from hospitals on one side of the planet to other. I'm a little skeptical."

Trouble was starting to brew, the Doctor could feel it. He had to stop this line of thought before it got any further, _now. _"Actually, it _has _been discussed before. If only in terms of paperwork."

"_What?" _Both men asked, turning to face the Doctor.

"Chief Physician Kowalski, you've signed this transfer request yourself close to half a year ago, see?" The Doctor pulled out a replicated form that he printed out and forged the signature of Dr. Kowalski that he found by hacking into the hospital's data banks. Kowalski wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his signature and the Doctor's forged one.

The man looked slightly embarrassed, obviously not a remembering an event that had never happened in the first place, but unwilling to admit that he didn't recall signing a document that turned out to be very important. With Kowalski's silence, the Doctor knew he had won the right to take Penny with him. The chief physician obviously signed many documents before that had requested transfers, he just didn't remember who the patients were or where they were going, often being unable to remember the exact details by the end of the day, let alone six months later.

'_Got you,' _he sing-songed mentally, hiding a grin behind a faux confused look. "Don't tell me you forgot such a crucial matter, Dr. Kowalski."

"Oh, it must've slipped my mind between all the other forms I've signed, my apologies, Dr. Smith," Dr. Kowalski said, fretting over the Doctor's response. He turned to Dr. Dogers, "Through no fault of Dr. Smith's, I've neglected to tell you about the upcoming transfer. You will excuse this slight inconvenience, _right,_ Dogers?"

The slighter man looked like he wanted dearly to protest, but knew in the end that his opinion didn't matter at all and that nothing he could say would change anything. "Yes, sir."

"Good, good, then show Dr. Smith to his new patient and inform Penny of the news of her transfer. Have a good day gentlemen, and I hope you'll remain in contact, Dr. Smith." Kowalski reached out to shake the Doctor's hand.

"Yes, likewise," the Doctor said, grinning and not quite specifying which part of the statement he was agreeing to.

* * *

The Doctor had been hoping that Dr. Dogers would at least try to be civil about the whole thing, but the man took it upon himself to pretend that the Doctor didn't even exist. _'Fair enough,'_ the Time Lord thought. _'I'm taking away your patient, leaving you with little chance to say goodbye.' _Still, the man could've been a bit more professional about the whole thing.

While they were walking down the halls, the Doctor noticed someone up ahead, a girl who couldn't have been older than her teens was looking at them with something akin to fear. He felt a stab of pity for her, obviously a patient in this hospital with those clothes and heavily drugged with some sort of antipsychotic drug, if her posture and appearance were any indicators. The Doctor didn't like having anyone look at him so fearfully, let alone someone who he had never met before.

"Hello," he greeted kindly with a smile and a wave, hoping to both diffuse the fear in her eyes and make Dogers finally acknowledge his existence, if only to snap at him.

His actions only seemed to scare her even more, for she started screaming in terror, "You-You don't exist, le-leave me alone! Go away, go away, go away!"

"Penny!" Dr. Dogers said in shock. "It's me, Dogers, your psychiatrist, don't you recognize me?"

Her eyes briefly moved slightly to the side, fixing on the man, before moving back to their original position. The Doctor realized, with a start, that the girl had been looking at him, personally, the whole time and she was the Penelope he was looking for.

"St-Stop, not one st-step closer! I won't l-let you torment me any-anymore, you ap-p-parition! Th-They said you d-don't exist, s-so get! Leave this in-instance!" She pointed a shaking finger out in a random direction, trying to put on a brave front in the face of her fear.

"Oh, Penny," Dogers sighed, "I didn't realize that it had gotten this bad for you. This man next to me is, in fact, real. His name is Dr. Smith, he's here to-"

"D-Don't believe h-him, it's j-just an alias! His-His _real_ name is the-the-the Doctor, just the Doctor! N-Not John Smith or _Dr._ John Sm-Smith, just the Doctor!" Penny admonished, eyes oscillating between the two of them. "And-And even then, tha-that's just his T-Time Lord title!"

The Doctor froze. No, there was no way that she could know his _true _name, could there? The look in her eyes, though, she had seen his momentary look of panic and hope started to fill them. She open her mouth to say something, and right then, the Doctor knew that he couldn't risk it. "Penelope Elaine Carter," he intoned, his voice thick and deep. "I am real, and I _do_ exist. I also don't appreciate you saying things that you have no right to say."

The girl trembled under the weight of his words, unable to talk any longer. Instead, she did the only thing she could do, run. The Doctor was quick to chase after her, unwilling to let her get away so easily.

* * *

The last thing I had been expecting while walking away from the chapel was the face of someone that I had been assured repeatedly was merely a delusion of mine. That the person whose actor had never existed here or any of his incarnations' actors ever existed. A person who was merely a work of fiction of my creation. Someone who shouldn't exist, _at all_, and was walking next to my psychiatrist towards my direction.

I think I was justified in freaking out, if only just a little.

The must-be-hallucination noticed me first. "Hello," he said charmingly, and why wouldn't he? He was a hallucination, they're probably all charming, aren't they? I wouldn't know, this was the first one that I had experienced that was interfering with my real life, was actually talking to me specifically, and was humanoid. He waved at me with a smile and Dr. Dogers didn't even seem to notice him, not even when he got close to clipping Dogers in the face. So I did what any sane (well, metaphorically speaking) person would do.

I screamed.

I screamed him that he wasn't real and that he needed to leave immediately. I was dismayed that Dr. Dogers was so quick to defend him, though. Didn't he see that the Doctor wasn't real and needed to leave immediately? Didn't he realise that just because the Doctor used alias that sounded real and legit, it didn't make him real? I tried to warn Dogers, really, I did, but he just didn't understand, he didn't believe.

I was on my own, I had to get the Doctor away, he couldn't stay. I almost felt for him, since he was always alone, with so many others leaving or dying, but he couldn't stay here with me. He wasn't even the right Doctor! Maybe this was a sign that I had to hurry up and finish up writing about him. I only had written six out of the fifty-six episodes I knew about, though! I would snap before then, if I hadn't snapped now.

Wait! There, right there, he had recoiled when I said something about his real name! I didn't actually know it, no one did except for a select few. Maybe I could bluff and scare him away. Maybe once I did that, the delusions and visions wouldn't torment me anymore. Maybe I'll finally feel normal again! It was worth a try.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the apparition of the tenth Doctor beat me to the punch. "Penelope Elaine Carter," he said, his voice deep and compelling, freezing the words in my throat, choking on them.

"I am real, and I _do _exist."

I believed him.

"I also don't appreciate you saying things you have no right to say."

And, _oh_, how I feared him.

* * *

Donna's day was just getting stranger and stranger. First, there was a woman in a mental institution who somehow was intimate with the knowledge of the Doctor's past, down to the exact dialogue, even. Then, there was the woman's file. Apparently, 'Penelope Elaine Carter' was under the impression that she was from the year 2013 and continued to believe that the actual date was ten years in the future. She also had fearsome delusions and hallucinations about "imaginary" monsters.

Some of them, to Donna's dismay, actually sounded familiar, meaning that Penelope wasn't crazy at all, but was actually ripped from her time and stuck in her own past. The Doctor needed to see this file immediately, but he was in that meeting… So, Donna decided to go see the unfortunate woman and tell her the truth. There was only one problem with that idea.

Donna had no clue where Penelope's room was.

Nowhere in the file did it list her room number, and Donna forgot exactly which hallway the nurse led her down earlier. However, she wasn't going just stand there and do nothing. The Doctor said to go investigate and that was exactly what she was going to do. Besides, maybe she would get lucky and find someone to help locate the woman's room.

Donna straightened her suit top and confidently strode out of the file room, holding Penelope's files in one arm. The best way to get around anywhere, as Donna learned from the Doctor, was to act as if you belonged.

* * *

I ran away from him. It was all I could do, run. Always running, never able to stay still and look behind me, for there lay madness. All I remembered from my past were lies and delusions, I couldn't remember what was real and what wasn't. In my state of mind, they were one and the same. The only things I could trust to be true were my Faith and my love of running.

I ran, because I was made for running, because when you run, you could be anyone. You hone yourself into a body, nothing more, nothing less, than that body. You respond as a body to a body. If I am racing to win, I have no thoughts but the body's thoughts, no goals but the body's goals. I obliterate myself, my sense of myself, in the name of speed. I negate myself to pass that finish line, whatever line that may be.

_And if it's the finish line of sanity, of me, then so be it, if it makes me acceptable to those I care for._

But even now, though, the joy of running is dissipating, it's losing the magic it once held for me. So, I stopped running. Not immediately, because you can never just simply stop running, but rather, I do it less and less, hoping if it became something rare, a treat for me, I would be able to retain that joy.

_I was wrong, the joy didn't stay._

And I worried that my Faith would be next, that I would lose the joy in that too. So, I finally gave up running, it was competition for my joy, so I decided to cease. My writing and my meditating became my life, hoping that it would bring me answers, some solace from this nightmare. It was working, I thought, it was helping, the visions weren't too hard to manage now, I could feel when they were coming. I could force myself to continue functioning as if nothing happened except just me being caught up in my thoughts or simply day dreaming again, just like my perceived 'old times.'

They were more frequent though, more common, since I had less to distract me. Dr. Dogers caught me reciting numbers and formulas more and more, muttering to myself about nonsense constantly. I lied to him, saying that reciting numbers of pi or math formulas calmed me down, that I was just thinking of ideas for my stories, passed it off as normal. Once again, my life was turning out to be one, big lie.

_I felt trapped, but not so more trapped as I felt now._

My first thought was heading back to the chapel, finding some place to hide in there, but I had already passed the chapel some time back, as it was so close to where I encountered _him. _Besides, the altar was made of stone and the back of it was part of the wall, also there were only five pews. No places to hide in that chapel and locking the door would do nothing. I only had my speed, wits, and knowledge of the place around me.

And, apparently, negligent janitors.

There, in the hallway I just turned into, was a janitor's cart, a cleaning trolley, abandoned on the side of the corridor. Not missing a beat, I gripped the side of it with my hand and vaulted myself into the large, yellow, vinyl cleaning bag. I pulled the lid shut and buried myself underneath the wet, brown paper towels that people used to wash their hands in bathrooms. Fearfully, I listened for my pursuer.

I could hear the slaps of his converse hitting the floor as he turned into the hallway and raced past me. I heard him skid to a stop as he decided which direction to take after he reached the end of the hall. I held my breath until I could, once again, hear him running, apparently choosing a direction to go. Still, I waited and was rewarded with hearing my psychiatrist, Dr. Dogers, run past too, huffing and puffing in hot pursuit. Sure that it was safe for the moment, I opened the lid, cautiously peeking out of my hiding place and sighed in relief.

_"Hey!"_ A voice barked.

Heart in my throat, I whipped my head around to see the missing janitor walking towards my direction. But that wasn't what scared me, behind him was a red-headed woman who couldn't have been anyone else but the tenth Doctor's best companion, Donna Noble. Quickly, I shoved my weight against the side of the trolley, tipping it over onto the floor, and fled the scene, apologizing for the mess under my breath.

* * *

Where could she have gone? The Doctor wondered as he ran through the hallways. He had been right behind her and slowly gaining, but the moment she turned into a different hallway, he lost her. Oh, she was _good_, the Doctor would give her that. And she could leg it like no tomorrow, but if she hadn't disappeared like she had, the Doctor would've caught her.

But now he lost her and had no idea where she could possibly be.

The Doctor came to a stop, breathing hard, upset at the turn of events. He stood there, cursing, as Dr. Dogers came up behind him, panting hard from the exertion. "Wha-What…were…you…_thinking?! _Penny is in…no state…of mind to…be chased…around like…that," he scolded between large gulps of air.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the Doctor apologized. "But she thought I was a delusion, a figment of her imagination. Her case is worse than I imagined…How could you have let it get this far?" The last part the Doctor had directed at himself, but Dr. Dogers assumed that the Time Lord had meant him.

"I-I didn't realize…I believed her when…I caught her mumbling…nonsense and complex…theorems and long strings…of-of numbers…She-she told me it… it was a way to calm herself…To keep things straight…Penny is guileless, like a…a _child_. She can't…lie, not really."

"Ever heard of 'half-truths?'" The Doctor drily directed at the man standing beside him.

Dr. Dogers sighed, "This is beyond me now…I don't think I can help her…anymore. Maybe it _is _time for…for her to move on and…and go with you, Dr. Smith…Maybe you can help where…where I cannot."

"Maybe," the Doctor agreed, looking away from the saddened old man beside him. "But I've lost her, I don't know where she could've gone."

Dr. Dogers gave a sad little smile, "Then it's a good thing I do…Come on."

* * *

_'How strange,'_ Donna thought, _'Are all the patients like that? She looked so scared. Are they being mistreated or something?' _Donna's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She had heard some of the horror stories of how mentally disturbed patients were treated in the past, but she had thought that everyone had moved beyond acting like they were from the Dark Ages.

_'Apparently not, though…'_

Donna opened her mouth to scold the janitor for not telling someone if the patients were being abused, but said janitor beat her to the punch. "You were looking for Penny, right? Well, that was her. It's kind of odd, though, she doesn't always look that twitchy or scared. Something must've spooked her, she's never done this before, knocking over carts without reason after _hiding_ in them of all things."

"What do you mean, 'twitchy?'" Donna asked sharply.

"The girl's deluded, paranoid about her own monsters she writes about, and it hasn't helped with all the news reports about monsters in Britain, which, no offense, sounds like a bunch of baloney to me."

"…None taken," Donna said absent-mindedly. She must've misread the whole situation, but even still, if she saw one, tiny hint of anything untoward happening to any one of the patients, she was calling the cops. "Which way was Penelope's room again?"

* * *

It was dark and quiet under my bed as I prayed to myself, trying to soothe the fear I felt. "In-Increase my Faith, deepen my c-commitment to do wh-what is right," I breathed. "H-Help me to forget self, by keeping my mind and eyes on…on _You_, I may have that…that _perfect_ love that c-casts out all fear."

I shuddered, jittery from the adrenalin, and moved myself deeper into the shadows of my little twin bed, hoping that it was enough to hide me. I was tired, _so_ very tired, I wondered if I could just fall asleep under there, but still, I knew that sleep would be impossible with all my nervous energy. "The-The Lord is my sh-shepherd, there's n-nothing I shall want," I mumbled under my breath.

Footsteps could be heard outside my door and voices, I tensed, huddling further underneath my bed, deeper into the shadows, pressed against the wall. _'Fresh and green are the pastures of faithfulness and truth,' _I continued silently. _'Near the restful waters He leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.'_

The door to my room opened and in stepped Dr. Dogers and the Doctor-_no_, the _apparition. _Of course, an apparition would claim it was real, wouldn't it? And in they walked, the apparition said, "She's not here, are you sure she would go to her own bedroom? I'm sure there are more, I don't know, less _obvious_ places a person could hide would be? She can't be _that _predictable…"

_'Spot on,'_ I thought, _'On both counts.'_ It was true, I _was_ that predictable, but I also knew the less obvious places to hide…like under the bed.

"You would be surprised, Dr. Smith. Just wait here, I'll go to the chapel. It's the only other place that she would go to for a sense of security…" Dr. Dogers left and the apparition sighed, closing the door behind my psychiatrist.

The apparition began to walk towards my bed and I panicked, praying, _'If ever I shall walk in the valley of darkness, no evil shall I fear…'_

It stopped not four feet from me, and I closed my eyes, scared, _'He guides me with the crook of His staff, of whom shall I fear?'_

"Well, what do we have here?" It said, and my eyes flew open, expecting to see the apparition looking back at me. Instead, it was farther away from me on the other side of the room, presumably looking at my sketches that I taped to the wall. My guess was proven correct when I heard the sound of tape being peeled off the wall and paper being crinkled slightly. The sound repeated several times and I realized he was taking them down from the wall. Upset, I bit my tongue, half-wanting to say something, but knowing that it would be better if I didn't.

"These schematics are exact, how did she…?" Its voice trailed away and suddenly it stormed over to my desk, riffling through my things. Indignant, I had to clench my teeth shut to keep quiet and focus on not grinding them, since doing that ruins teeth. "This doesn't make any sense, is she a future companion? But that still doesn't explain how she knows all of this…!" It unexpectedly cleared off my desk, sending my papers, books, journals, and supplies to the floor. One of my small paint containers fell to the floor near the bed, splattering my face with blue paint. I jumped at the unexpected move and cacophony of sound, the small noise I made was covered up by the others.

"How is this possible…?" It asked rhetorically, pacing around the room. I watched its feet, having no other choice at the moment, as it continued to mutter to itself. Long minutes passed as it made no change to its habit other than switching the direction it paced occasionally. Finally confident that I was secure in my hiding place for a while, I closed my eyes, intent on doing the Divine Mercy, hoping that praying would calm my nerves and deliver me from this situation.

_'In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…'_

* * *

When Donna opened the door to Penny's perceived room, she didn't expect to see the mess inside. "Doctor!" She exclaimed, stunned. "What's all this for, then?"

"Oh, Donna, you're here, brilliant!" He whipped around with a grin on his face, "Do you have her files? I need to examine them."

"Well, yeah, I do, but what's all of this-this mess for? Did you get into a row with someone or something?"

"Nah, I just got a bit…frustrated."

"And so, like a child having a fit, you threw everything on the floor," Donna sighed, shaking her head.

"Not all of it," the Doctor defended weakly as he took the files from his companion. "Just…most of it, besides, I'll clean it up later once we erase all of the evidence."

"Erase all the evidence? Evidence of what?"

"My existence, Donna, I can't have people knowing about my past, even if it's mostly perceived as fiction. It's not just me who would be in danger, but everyone I've come in contact with mentioned in Penelope's stories. Not to mention, once UNIT catches wind of this, and I imagine they have, they will swoop in, kidnap our little friend, and take any scrap of information she knows by use of any and all means…not all of them nice." The Doctor answered seriously, morosely, as he started to leaf through the file, eyes flying across the pages.

"We can't leave her to that, then," she exclaimed, alarmed.

"I don't plan to," he said, eyes finally looking up at her, finished reading. "I can't possibly leave someone who has somehow managed to survive going through the void completely unprotected and without any technology whatsoever. Not to mention all the impossible information she has."

"But Doctor, it's just-"

"No, Donna, it's _not_ just information on me. She knows things that nothing but Time-Aware species would know, complex mathematical formulas and knowledge."

"So?"

"_So,_ she should be _dead._ Her mind should've burned out, overloaded with all that information, and, according to these x-rays, it almost _did_." The Doctor displayed them in front of Donna, who had saw them earlier but didn't understand the significance then. "But somehow, her brain was able to make it recede from her conscious mind into her subconscious. It's brilliant,_ beautiful_, even…" He gazed off into space, voice trailing off in thought.

"Doctor, Earth to Doctor," Donna intoned. "Wake up, Space-man! This is no time to be fantasizing about her mind! What we need to worry about is if she's alright or if her mind will blow up any second!"

"Who said anything about her mind blowing up?"

"You did, Dumbo!"

"No, I said that it would _burn_ up, not _blow _up!"

"I don't think it really matters in the end if she's _dead_, Doctor."

"Hmm, point taken," he conceded. "But the thing is, if her mind was going to burn up, she would be dead by now. I can't be sure until I do some scans, because the medication they've given her might only be keeping it at bay."

"Medication?"

"Yes, neuroleptics, they're meant to calm her down, reduce her symptoms," the Doctor said flippantly. "But we can worry about that later, we've got to find Penny first and get her to the TARDIS."

"And you thought the best way to do that was to lurk in her room, prowling about like a lion on the hunt for some zebra?" Donna crossed her arms, unimpressed.

"Am not!" The Doctor protested, "I am not_ lurking_ or _prowling_, I'm just waiting in the most likely place that she'll return to, according to Dr. Dogers, her psychiatrist."

"And where is he?"

"In the second most likely place, the chapel."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Not at first, no, but after having a peek at her files, yes, I do now."

"And why is that, Space-man?" Donna asked, arms still crossed and weight shifted onto one hip, looking very much like a mother waiting for her son's excuses to why he didn't do his chores.

"She's been reduced to the mentality of a child. She thinks like a child and acts like one. My guess is that it's a coping mechanism to keep whatever sanity she has left, since she's been told that the 'real' Penelope Elaine Carter is ten years her junior. Even though they _both_ are Penelope, just ten years in the past for one and in the present for the other. Right now, we're dealing with a child."

"A child," Donna repeated flatly.

"Yes, a child," the Doctor confirmed.

"Doctor, do you know what children do when they get scared? They _hide_. Penelope hid, and she did it right under your nose!"

"What?" The Doctor asked, startled at the turn of events.

"Didn't you, Sweetheart?" Donna asked, her voice taking on a more sympathetic tone, as she got on her knees and looked under the bed.

_"What?" _The Doctor quickly joined Donna and also looked under the bed, taking out his sonic screwdriver to provide some light. Startled and fearful brown eyes peered back him. _"What?!"_

* * *

I cringed, there wasn't much else I could do in the limited space under the bed. Somehow, the hallucination of Donna Noble found out exactly where I was, but I didn't find it too surprising then. They were a part of my mind, devoted only to terrorizing me and tormenting me, of course they wouldn't leave me in peace for long. I wanted to cry, to scream, to run, all at the same time, but instead, I let out a choked whimper and pressed myself against the wall farther.

"Oh, Sweetheart, we're not here to harm you, I swear, only to help. Everything you've written about, it's all true, all of it! You don't deserve to be locked up here, you're not crazy. Come on out, so we can help you," she cajoled.

I tried to ignore her, mumbling another decade of the Divine Mercy, "...F-For the sake of His s-sorrowful passion, have m-mercy on us and-and on the whole world. For the s-sake of His sorrowful p-passion, have m-mercy on us and-and on the whole world. For the-the sake of His…"

The light of the sonic screwdriver that belonged to the apparition of the Doctor turned off, and he crawled out from his spot partially underneath my bed. The hallucination of Donna Noble followed.

"Donna, do you think you can coax her out, or do you want me to try? I'd rather she come with us of her own will, but if I have to, I will take her out of here by other means," he sounded resigned.

"And what's that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting that you're going to drag her out of here kicking and screaming?" She sounded appalled by the idea.

"No!" He hastily denied loudly. A brief pause followed where he presumably calmed himself down before he repeated in a quieter tone, "No, not like that. I would rather...not, but if it becomes necessary, I'll put her in a light hypnotic trance, she'll listen to my...suggestions and follow us without a word."

There was a pregnant pause before Donna spoke, voice low and serious, "Doctor, what is it you're not telling me? Be straight with me, _Space-man_." The nickname seemed almost like a warning, a threat.

He sighed, "When I was younger, I used hypnotisms all the time, carelessly, without regard to the one being hypnotized, as did most of my people. I realized...I _learned _over time that it would be far better if I didn't, at least, not like I used to. I'm old, Donna, older than I used to be, my mind is much more powerful at the age. The human mind, in comparison to a Time Lord's, is much weaker, more delicate. The type of hypnotic trance I would need to put Penny in, if Penny isn't willing, could be scary and majorly unpleasant."

"But I was hypnotized before, and it wasn't that bad."

"That's because another human was hypnotizing you, for it to work, it must be consensual when they do it and the person being hypnotized must be completely relaxed. When a Time Lord does it...when _I _do it, it doesn't matter. Nothing a human can do can break the trance, not really. They could convince me to break it by making it miserable for me to do it, but it's only by my will that it's broken. The person is trapped in their own minds, Donna, this is the type of trance that I'll be forced to use on her."

She was silent for a long time, but finally, she said, "Then I better try to convince her then. I would rather you not, but...I think we're losing her anyway, Doctor. Her eyes, they don't...focus on me directly, like they're looking through me. She's suffering more by staying here, being told her life is a lie, being here for six years, completely sane but being told that she's not…it must be maddening. It would be better if you didn't have to, but if I can't convince her…" She swallowed, "Be gentle with her, Space-man. Don't hurt her or you'll have to answer to me. I'd never forgive you or...or _myself_."

He stepped closer, possibly putting a hand on her shoulder. "Only if necessary," he promised.

"Only if necessary," she repeated faintly.

* * *

The Doctor was uneasy with his promise. He wasn't joking or mucking about when he said that the experience would be scary and unpleasant for Penny, but he wasn't being completely honest either. The type of hypnosis he was going to do, was basically the broadcasting of his will unto others, oppressive and complete, his will unto theirs. He would have almost complete and utter control over Penny, like a puppeteer in control of her strings. The idea made him feel dirty.

In the past, he didn't mind as much, younger and arrogant and ignorant. He had learned from his people, used to telepathic mind-touches constantly. It was used as a way of greeting someone back on Gallifrey, it was so common, so everyday, normal. He was far from the best or the strongest when it came to matters of the mind, that was the Master's forte, but the Doctor most certainly wasn't the weakest. He was no lightweight in Time Lord Society, and compared to humans, he was a monster, a behemoth, capable of crushing their simple minds without too much effort on his part, if he really, truly wanted to.

As he got older, the Doctor found it less and less necessary to use hypnosis to get around guards or staff, as psychic paper worked just as well. In fact, after the Time War, he only used hypnosis once and refused to touch another being's mind, refused to share something so intimate with another, until he met Madame de Pompadour. Oh, she was a special one, her mind so open and accepting. He never found another quite like it, and he never had another being be able to enter his mind so easily, not without help or prompting. The Doctor wouldn't admit it, but there was a special place in one of his hearts reserved just for her, a place desperate for his other companions or loves, like Rose Tyler or Sarah Jane Smith, because none of them could compare! Not one of them…

Surface touches, like hypnotism, was all he did now, putting people into the lowest possible trance, usually when telling them to trust him, making eye and physical contact and changing the pitch of his voice was all that was normally needed. This time, however, the Doctor knew that a deeper trance was required, that he would need to impose his will upon her, control her. Sometimes, he disgusted himself, but it was necessary. Maybe he could make it so she really was in a trance, numb the fear, just until she was in the TARDIS and they had taken off. Then she could automatically snap out of it, her obligation to his will complete.

Yes, that would be best, that way she wouldn't be too aware of what was happening around her, less fear but maybe a bit more confusion. He could work with that, pacify her with an explanation that he would come up with once he got to that point. Besides, even Donna said herself that Penelope was a bit out of it, it wouldn't be too much different, not really…

_He hoped that Donna could convince Penelope to join them._

* * *

Donna sighed, she thought that she had gotten through to Penny when the girl didn't immediately withdraw when she placed a hand on Penelope's arm. It turned out that the only reason this was, because Penelope had no more room _to_ withdraw. The Doctor had picked up everything off the floor and placed them in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets, Donna was out of time. Penelope would not be swayed this way.

"Right, well, grab an end," he said.

"What?" Donna asked, startled.

"This will need eye contact to be effective. We need to be able to see each other's eyes, so the bed must be moved," the Doctor explained grimly, business-like. Donna wisely didn't comment but, instead, assisted him in the task. The girl looked at them, brown eyes wide in terror, as her hiding place was rendered useless and was taken. Donna felt her heart break just a little more for the younger woman.

"It's okay, it's okay, just look at me. Look at me," the Doctor coaxed, voice soft and imploring. "Look at me, Penelope Elaine Carter. When you've thought of me before, when you've imagined me, pictured me in your mind, never have I been this detailed, have I? Maybe a bit fuzzy, perhaps a bit blurry? I'm really here, and you know it, you're just too scared to believe, aren't you?" The girl shook her head furiously left and right, refusing to look at him, in denial, afraid that he might be right.

"Yes, you are, because you know it, you _fear_ it. You're scared that I am real, because then, if I, who once was fiction, became true, reality, then what else is real and what is false? It's terrifying, isn't it? You're staring into the chasm of madness, on the edge, the tip, about to fall over." Penny's head tentatively angled towards the Doctor, eyes still adverted.

"But answer me this, Penelope, what are you going to do? Hide? I'm not going away, regardless, if I'm real or not, I'm not leaving. You know this, you know it. What happened to the woman, the girl from before who was vehemently denying my existence, eh? The girl who looked me in the eyes, trembling, and told me to leave, to leave and never return, where is she? Eh? Where did she go, because let me tell you, she scared me. She looked me in the eyes, even though she was so afraid and told me, no, _ordered_ me to leave, where did she go?" Finally, Penny looked at him, not in the eyes but at him, listening closely.

"Because I was intimidated by that woman, but I admired her too, that wonderful, brilliant woman who stood up to her own fears. You're afraid now, I realize that, but can you be strong and look at me? Yes, like that, look into my eyes…_ I see you, Penelope Elaine Carter of Underwood, and I need you to trust me._"

Donna wasn't even the person who the words were directed at, and she still felt their draw, the underlying power within them, and the power that seemed to hang in the air after their passing. She tried to give herself a good shake but found that she still could not turn away from the scene. The Doctor hadn't been lying about the strength of his hypnotism. It was alarming how powerful his words could be, Donna felt uncomfortable unleashing this seemingly unstoppable force on someone else, even though it was necessary in the long run. She just hoped that Penny wouldn't get hurt.

* * *

Those eyes of his, they frightened me. No, frightened isn't the right word (although, they certainly frightened me too), they...troubled me. They looked so-so _old_. With that age, came a power to rattle me to my core with merely a look.

The previous statement sounds like it came out of a cheesy love story, I know, but they weren't "smoldering with undying love" (gag, by the way). Their only desire was knowledge and answers and compliance, for the cold, hard facts and my complete obedience in giving them. Those eyes had seen so much, more than I ever had during my miniscule, by comparison, twenty-four years of life. On the other hand, while those eyes had the power to render me helpless, they offered much comfort.

My brothers and Grandpa had brown eyes similar to the shade staring back at me, those eyes were familiar and, therefore, comforting. For a moment, I could just pretend I was staring into the eyes of one of my brothers as an adult or my grandpa when he was younger. Who else would know me so well? Who else would be able to guess my feelings and thoughts so accurately? At that moment, I was nervous but agreeable.

Until he said my name.

_"I see you, Penelope Elaine Carter of Underwood."_

My vision tunneled until his face was the only thing I could see, the pre-existing fog turning a dark and murky color and covering everything else. My focus narrowed, I lost awareness of the rest of my body, as if it was left in the darkness that had suddenly appeared in the fog. It felt disconnected, like it had fallen asleep, tingly and warm, muffled and slow, ears ringing and hearing limited to only the sound of his voice. I lost all control of my body and my mind drifted.

It was a chore to vocalize my assent when he asked if I would do as he asked of me, but I managed. I couldn't think, thoughts harder to grasp than dust motes in the sunlight, My mind floated like them too, all I wanted to do, all I _could _do was listen and comply to his requests, his orders, his commands. His will became my will, nothing else mattered.

Distantly, there was alarm, fear, confusion, and horror in my thoughts, but they were so far away, detached. It was so much easier to just comply, I felt so airy and light as I followed behind him and next to her. I remember being distantly concerned over the extent of my control over my own body, but I had none, it disappeared. It was like trying to move in a giant pool of thick chocolate or caramel (which, by the way, isn't as fun as it sounds), useless and tiring, completely futile. I gave up on the attempt as impossible or too hard to really be worth it, as it zapped my energy so quickly and so readily.

I remember thinking,_ 'I can't control my body, what happened? Where did it all go? Why can't I move myself? Oh Lord, please, help me, I'm being possessed! I can't move! Help! Help! I need-'_

It was like someone had pulled a plug, my panicked thoughts had gotten cut off so quickly and abruptly. And my awareness faded even more, black spots danced in front of my tunnel vision and I felt the same hot flash I would get, if I stood up too quickly, like when I almost pass out because of my low blood pressure. Distantly, my panicked thoughts returned, but sounded so far away, as if I was hearing only an echo, _'Why? Why would you do this to me, Doctor?'_

And then I was lost to the darkness of the fog.

* * *

It was so easy to put her in the trance, the Doctor reflected, feeling slightly guilty, but he attributed this to the drugs lowering her mental defenses. He really didn't mean to, but he caught her surface thoughts. Her brother, she likened him to her brother, but she thought his eyes looked more like her grandfather's, but the face didn't match the eyes. She thought it was strange and unnerving that eyes could look old, since she had never noticed any differences in other eyes before. She liked him, thought he was familiar, and had even started to trust him, naturally trust him, not just giving him the benefit of the doubt but actually trusting him, all because of his eyes.

_'Guileless,'_ he thought, _'Dr. Dogers was right, her thoughts are so simple, innocent. The medication has done worse with her mental state than I previously thought. Oh, Penelope, I'm so, so sorry.' _He felt uncomfortable doing this to what was, essentially, a small child's mind, but he believed it was necessary and pushed through the task. Using her true name, the power of it was immediate. His hearts felt heavy while he watched her clouded eyes dull even more, trance complete.

He helped Penelope stand and assured Donna once more that the girl would be alright, just a bit out of it until they reached the TARDIS. Pacified but doubtful, Donna insisted on staying beside Penelope in case something unexpected happened. The Doctor almost told her it was unnecessary, because the body wouldn't show any visible reactions that she would see, only the mind would have the surprises. He stopped himself though, knowing that it would just make his companion more distressed.

Things were going just fine until he heard the first surges of fear and panic begin to radiate through her mind. Abruptly, the Doctor turned around, startling Donna, and put his hands near her temples, deciding that it would be best if he put her conscious mind to rest, since suppressing her panic wouldn't work for long. It would eventually overflow the mental dam he built. His hearts sank even further as he heard her last thought ask him why he was doing this in the horrified tone of a little girl who realized that her fears were real. Gritting his teeth, he removed his fingers from her temples, task done.

"What the hell was that, Space-man?" Donna demanded, unnerved.

"Making sure that nothing was wrong with her," he muttered. Louder, he continued, "We need to make a quick stop in the stockroom, Donna."

"Why? What's in there?" She asked, still eying Penelope with concern but was relieved when the girl started wandering along without any noticeable differences from before.

"Penelope's medication," the Doctor answered flatly, loathing the idea of giving Penelope any more of the antipsychotics, even though it was necessary. Earth medicine, what a laugh.

_"What?!"_ Donna fairly exploded.

Stressed, the Doctor rounded on her, "Listen to me, Donna Noble, I need you to take Penelope to the TARDIS. You can tell me exactly what you're thinking then, but now is not the place or the time, clear?"

Donna momentarily looked stunned before her face clouded with displeasure and indignation. Miffed, she turned to the girl beside her, "Come on, Penny. Let's go to the TARDIS, while the Doctor does something surprisingly _stupid_ of him." The Doctor ignored the jab, knowing that Donna was only trying to get a rise out of him. As he said earlier, this was not the time or the place, he would explain exactly why he needed to get the drugs later. He only hoped that Donna would listen to reason.

* * *

"You can't just do that to her, Doctor! She was unstable because of that crap they put in her, giving her more won't help!" Donna bellowed, finally jolting me out of the half-trance I was in.

"Donna," the Doctor tried, voice chilling even.

"You saw what she was like! Scared of her own shadow, I saw her hiding in a janitor's trolley of all things! Leaving her on that medication is going to make thing worse, not better," Donna continued stubbornly. They were arguing about me, I realized then with a growing horror, nostalgia of the worst kind started to wash over me, I was simultaneously saddened and frightened.

"No, Donna, I'm not leaving her on it. I'm going to slowly take her off of it-"

Donna interrupted, "Slowly isn't going to cut it, Doctor. She needs to be taken off it right now, what you're doing isn't must better than what those people were doing on that planet. Leaving her on those drugs is like cutting out that hind-brain and suppressing the third brain of the Oods, it's killing her, Doctor! It's killing the person she used to be, her sense of self, it's _gone!_ She's barely here, barely even alive, and you want things to continue that way?! Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor, huh?!"

My nose started to wiggle, a habit I had developed to stop tears from coming. When my nose started to tickle, a sign of on-coming tears, I wiggled it until the tickling sensation stopped. Sometimes though, wiggling my nose didn't stop the tears, and when they came, they wouldn't stop. My throat tightened as they continued, it seemed to get smaller and smaller until it was nothing but a dense rubber ball stuck inside my neck.

"He's still here!" The Doctor roared. "You can't just take her off it, you got to wean her, put her through rehab! If I just take her off it, cold turkey, she'll go through a relapse, gain a dependency on it like an addict because of the hell withdrawals can be!" Closing my eyes, all I can see are exploding pin-pricks of light. I wonder if my brain is disintegrating behind my eyes. Everything else around me is falling apart, why wouldn't my brain?

"Addicts can stop if there are people to help them through with it! There are people who have been able to stop cocaine addiction, and she has no way to get the medicine, so she won't be able to rebound!" I try to hold back the memories, the pain, from my life before coming back to the surface, but it's like fighting the ocean's tide, futile.

_"You can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't move right, always jumpy, always nervous, always feeling sick! _It's physically affecting her, Donna, she can't just grit her teeth and bare it, no one can! It's a drug and she's addicted, even if she doesn't know it yet!"

My eyes swell up with tears, a memory plays before me:

_"Stop crying!" Dad barked at me, furious, "And look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you, you little-"_

My nose start wiggling hard, trying to hold them back, but the tickling sensation in my nose only got worse.

"If she just-"

"Donna, there's a disorder for it, Antipsychotic Discontinuation Syndrome. It's harmful and it's painful, would you rather she suffered?!" He thundered. "Answer me!"

A phantom pain blooms in my cheek, tingling ominously, as my nose starts wiggling on overdrive. It's not enough to stop the tears as I stifle my sobs, shoulders shaking.

_"No crying…"_

I look forward, staring at the groove in the wall through my tears and try to imagine myself sliding into it, disappearing completely. That's all I want, to disappear, to _hide_. The groove stretched wider and before my eyes became a small door which opened with nary a sound. I felt a pressure in the back of my head, a nudging sensation that seemed to say, "Go ahead, go on, run."

I hesitated for a second but the continued shouting made my decision for me. With hardly a glance back, I scurried over to the newly made door and slipped inside. The door closed behind me and I looked forward to see a long stretch of hallway. The nudge came again in my mind and I heeded its advice, running as fast as my unstable legs could carry me.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**

* * *

**_Edits:_**Combined chapters four and five, because it seemed that chapter four should be longer. Fixed typos and the smallest smidgen of dialogue. Nothing major.

**_Translations:_**

* Allonse-y ~ Let's go.

_**Explanations:**_

* Remember, Penny is only an online author, currently. She would have written up to 'The Empty Child' online in the year 2009. She won't start publishing in print until 2010 with the first book: 'Doctor Who: Rose.' That book was how the Doctor found out in the first place, so it needs to be in the library, permanently (I figured that there would be the first time that a book would be duplicated. The next time the Doctor finds the book, he'll see a note to himself in it saying, 'this a duplicate, put it back and prevent a real one popping up in print' or something like that). The only thing the Doctor is preventing, is the books being published in print, because if he went back in time before they were written, Penny wouldn't remember her time in the mental institution. Plus, he's going to the date that the TARDIS preset for him, much the same way that the TARDIS drags the Doctor to other places, locations, and times.

* The song the Doctor is singing along to is called 'The Safety Dance' by Men Without Hats.

* There _is_ Cygnet Hospital Harrogate in Yorkshire that specializes in schizophrenia, but everything else was made up, as far as I am aware of.

* One of the Doctor's many talents is being able to do a flawless forgery from memory.

* Another one of this talent is his "voice magic," basically hypnotism with his voice. I will go into great depth with this next chapter.

* Yes, Penny is insane, this was the last straw for her. She will slowly gain back fractures and pieces of the person she once was, but in the end she will be someone completely different than the person she was before the void. In other words, I can't truly call her a self-insert, since she no longer retains all the faucets of my personality. Just bits and pieces of an extreme end of the spectrum of me.

* The "Faith" that Penelope keeps mentioning is her belief as a Roman Catholic.

* Yes, you really can hide in those janitor carts, some of them are big enough.

* The first prayer was one that my grandma taught me, you will be seeing a lot more of it, since it fits the story so well. The second is actually a psalm.

* I have under gone a hypnotic trance before, really, truly experienced one. And let me tell you, it is in no way like Holly wood makes it out to be. For starters you don't because zombie-like, not too much anyway. This is because you can BREAK THE TRANCE, it's easy. If you test the boundaries of the trance too hard, you break them. You are aware the whole time and you can remember most of what had been said, but you perception of time is way off. What felt like five minutes turned out to be forty-five.

* Most of this hypnotism thing that Penny experiences from the Doctor in what I so fondly call the "Time Lord Trance" is a mixture of my actual experience from hypnotism and what I experienced under the influence of laughing gas. There is a bit of cannon mixed in through the conjecture and interpretation of mine.

* Antipsychotic Discontinuation Syndrome really does exist and you will experience all the symptoms he listed if you try to go cold turkey on strong medicine that your is used to since you've been taking it _for_ _years_. Get a professional to help you through this decision and process.

* Yes, Penny has issues from her previous life back in her own universe that's coming back to haunt her. Don't expect her old life to pop up too often though, she has started to forget bits and pieces of it herself.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE:** Changing the Equation

**AUTHOR:** JustStandingHere

**ID:** 8534985

**SUMMARY:** Jenna Quigley never imagined her Saturday to end up like this, sealing up a tear in reality and stowing away on the TARDIS. Beats sitting on the couch with a bag of popcorn. Doctor and OC friendship fic.

**OPINION:** FINALLY, a fan fiction where the original character isn't in any way romantically involved with the Doctor or any of the characters in the Who-verse. It's kind of what I'm trying to go for in this story, friendship/platonic stuff. It also has some semblance of a plot, and a story that begins close to the end, trying to catch the audience up to speed. Good stuff.

* * *

**TITLE: **Starlight

**AUTHOR: **Writless

**ID: **7817227

**SUMMARY: **Thanks to the Doctor, the Master has survived the fall of Gallifrey. But without the constant beating of the drums, he finds himself lost. In his search for the Doctor, he discovers Fitz instead. An idiotic, infuriating girl with something troubling around her neck. A time lord. And if he can't find a way to help her, it'll kill her. Master/OC Part one of Starlight series.

**OPINION: **I enjoyed it, I seriously, completely enjoyed it. The witty banter is hilarious and the Master is completely believable. Pretty good for a Drumless!Master, he stayed in character, had the same personality we all look for.

* * *

_**Thought Process:**_

All right, once again, thank emptyvoices for being utterly fantastic. Seriously, without her, there would probably be only one chapter and you would still be waiting for the second one.

Okay, I've got serious business to talk about.

I moved out of my parents' house two months early. I got into a row with my step-dad who has got major issues and I'm currently living with my grandparents. I wasn't planning to move out until after graduation, but here we are...

So! What that means for you readers is a slower update time so that I can devote a major of my time to my studies to prove to my mom that I _can_ graduate, even if I'm living an hour away from my school. This will be the last update until sometime later next week, most likely, yeah...

On the bright side, we'll be heading for cannon waters in two more chapters or so after this one. On chapter six will be starting with Atmos and the Sontarans. Yay, we get to meet Martha! :D

So, yeah, and you will notice that I have done some major and not-so major edits. There's nothing too crazy done, just combining some chapters and having parallel-Penny be kidnapped instead of dead by drowning. You'll find out why later. ;)

**_Thought Process 2:_**

Okay, right, so, brutal weather up here in Minnesota, brrr... And, I made the 2014 Senior Walk List, this means I will be walking up to get my diploma, yay!

Right, so, random fact, the other day, there was a Blizzado/Tornard in South Dakota. Basically, a winter storm and a giant whirl wind's love child, scary stuff. Just when you thought you were safe from tornados in the winter, this happens. It's unlikely, but very possible.

Just like sunshowers, I love me a good sunshower, so pretty!

No promises when chapter eight will show up, but hopefully sometime next week, maybe. We'll see.

Happy Friday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Old Chapter 4 Date Submitted: _Friday, March 28, 2014.

_Old Chapter 5 Date Submitted:_ Friday, April 4, 2014.

_Date Updated:_ Tuesday, September 9, 2014.


	5. And I Finally Lost It

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

* * *

I ran down the long hallway and past the numerous doors. I opened some, looking in quickly, before closing them and running again, looking for a place to hide, a good one where no one could ever find me. My places that I usually chose to hide are dim, quiet, and impossible to find. There were bedrooms, ballrooms, offices, bathrooms, supply closets, gardens, a library, storage rooms, a med bay, all different kinds of rooms. None of them felt right, so I continued to run.

I grew tired, stumbling down the hallways now, wandering and crying, scared and lost. Finally, the same nudging sensation from before guided me to a room. Wheezing slightly, I opened it as I put a tired hands against the wall to support me and let out a weak laugh as I saw what the room contained. It was a perfect mimicry of the set in the movie 'Narnia.' A blank, non-descript room with a giant wardrobe smack-dab in the middle of it and I was suddenly filled the inane urge to climb inside.

It was perfect.

I had the insane idea that if I climbed through _this exact_ _wardrobe_, I would end up in some old man's castle in England. I wanted to see if I would actually leave this messed up Narnia, if I went into this wardrobe, hoping beyond hope that this was false or some undeniable proof that this was all true would present itself. I sounded crazier with each passing second, I know, but the impulse to do it was so strong, that it overrode any rational thoughts.

I opened the wardrobe and hid inside, amongst the closet of furs. I yanked them from hangers until I had a pile and then burrowed into it. I curled up, making myself smaller, trying to disappear entirely, wrapped in the silence of the place. No one would be able to find me without any help, especially not in this new hiding spot. It was gloomy and quiet, the only light provided by the small crack of the barely open wardrobe door and the only sound being my wheezing breath and pounding heart.

Swathed in the fur, I felt like a small and fluffy animal hibernating for winter. I had always supposed that to be a peaceful way of life, curled up into a warm cocoon of fur, asleep. I lied there for a long time, stroking the fur, pretending that it was a living animal that was sleeping and curled up around me and for a moment, I felt content…happy. What must've been hours passed by, I felt more and more relaxed, and at some point, I dropped off to sleep…

* * *

_**The sound of raindrops.**_

"_Huh, I guess Heaven decided to do some spring cleaning, eh?" _Two small children looked up at me, upset.

"_But why now? Why does it have to be today?"_ They chorused, disappointed.

"_If not now, when?"_ I quipped, smiling. _"Besides, you can still go outside when it rains, I most certainly do."_

"_Mom, all you is ignore it when you go running," _the little girl on my right, sighed.

"_Yeah, 'cause you let nothing stop you…not even when you're sick," _the other girl agreed.

"_That where you're wrong,"_ I countered. _"I run because it's raining, I prefer to run then, there's nothing like it."_ I start to put on my shoes and a light raincoat. _"Do you want to see why?"_ There was a small pause and the girls looked at each other, unsure, before copying my movements, putting on rain boots and rain coats.

_**A metallic tang in the air.**_

I looked up from my gardening, the smell of freshly dug soil mixing with the smell of rain. I close my eyes, glorifying God, thanking Him for the rain, and reveling in the scents around me. I breathed in and out, a smile stretching across my mouth.

_**Coolness dotted on my face.**_

I watched my dogs race past me as we ran through the backyard and over to the woods. Exhilarated, I let out a _"Wheeeeew!" _The dogs started barking like crazy in response and I laughed, whipping my head back and forth as I ran, trying to shake off the rain.

_**Wind blowing through my hair.**_

A breeze gusted around me and my hair whipped around madly. Regretfully, I looked at the sky as I entered the work place, unable to go running at the moment. _"So, how about that weather? Isn't it lovely?" _The looks I got from my co-workers were priceless.

_**Thunder rumbling in the distance.**_

"_All thunder and lighting is, is God and his angels going bowling…" _I assured the two girls huddling under the blankets. They didn't seem too convinced. I tried again, _"Really, the lightning is when the bowling ball strikes the pins and the thunder is when the pins fall down."_

"_But Mom, don't you know?"_ One girl piped up.

"_What?"_

"_That lightning is the cracks,"_ the other continued.

"_The cracks, how do you mean_?" I asked, confused by both the phrasing and the strange jolt of dread I felt.

"_The cracks, the cracks in the whole of the Universe_," they chorused. _"Don't you know, Mom, don't you know? There are tears in the fabric of space and time, and they are spreading everywhere. They are erasing everything, Mom, you're forgetting!"_

"_I think I would remember something like that,"_ I remarked, tittering nervously. _"Maybe you watched too much 'Doctor Who.'"_

"_You'll only remember Him, Mom, you're forgetting Us," _one girl said sadly.

"_I would never forget you, not my own daughters!"_ I exclaimed, shocked. _"What is going on with you two?"_

"_Not just us, Mom, everyone, the whole dimension. You went into the other one, the Main Universe. The splinter isn't as important as the trunk."_

"_Every splinter is important, because together they make the whole trunk,"_ I retorted.

"_You're missing the point, Mom. You won't remember anything, not even yourself when the time comes. You'll be something else entirely, it's taking over everything."_

"_Wh-what is?"_ I choked out.

"_It has no name, it just is."_

"_A nameless danger?"_ I asked, fear was taking root inside of me.

"_Run, Mom, you need to run!"_ They screamed, and I did, my house falling apart around me.

_**Lightning flashing across the sky.**_

I ran, farther, faster, harder. Afraid, so afraid, of what was chasing me, of what was right behind me. Thunder rumbled ominously, but not a drop of rain fell. There was a perpetual gray color that covered the canvas-like night sky. The storm clouds loomed overhead with a menacing feel to it. The heavens almost seemed to hold onto their water and were probably brewing a big storm. The very Earth gave the impression of holding its breath, waiting for the clouds to release their rage out upon it.

Lightning flashed overhead, but instead of going away, it seemed to spread, like I was watching it through a high-speed camera. The lightning spread, growing longer and more scattered, like fireworks, like roots, like…cracks. The lightning… the lightning was actually cracks.

_Cracks in the Universe._

There was no way that I would be able to out-run it, but I had to try, I tried so very hard. I could hear it all shattering behind me, the whole of the Universe falling to pieces behind me, the whiteness nipping at my heels. I saw in my peripheral vision the blankness starting to go past me, I started to lose my footing as the ground crumbled away into nothingness. Desperately, I reached forward, my hand grasping at what still remained, but it was futile, air does not make a good hand-hold, and so, I fell.

_And I fell, and I fell, and I fell._

_Down, down, down, I went with no end in sight._

Then I landed in a heap, lying on what seemed to be nothing, whiteness, blankness, surrounding me. Painfully, I pushed myself up and held my head with one hand while my other arm supported myself. My eyes started to tear up and my face smarted from meeting the floor head on.

_**Footsteps.**_

I slowly looked up, trying to see who else was in the featureless landscape. I soon wished that I hadn't.

A blurred form of a person cloaked in shadows, sometimes one and sometimes several, none of them were alike and only one stayed constant. Goosebumps covered my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. It continued to walk forward at a leisurely pace, a non-threatening one, but somehow that made it seem all the more dangerous.

Somehow, I knew that this was my pursuer that I had been running from in my dreams all these years, and he had finally caught up.

Terrified beyond belief, I moved to get up, to flee once again, only to find, to my eternal horror that I couldn't. I couldn't move, I had no control over my body whatsoever. I couldn't even look away from it and the darkness that trailed behind it like an obedient pet.

_**A smile.**_

A grin appeared on the featureless head where the mouth would be, and, somehow, it was familiar. I had seen that smile somewhere before. It was meant to reassure, it certainly would've been interpreted as a friendly one under any other circumstances, but it was a parody of one, a fake, not natural.

_Not natural._

_**A predator.**_

The grin shifted from being an amicable beam to a shark-like leer in a split-second, like a switch had been flipped. It advanced upon me, its hands reaching out towards me. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, _no_!' I mentally cried in protest, unable to utter even a whimper. Still, it approached and its hands lightly alighted on my temples, almost as if in a caress. Then it violated my mind by violently shoving its presence through.

I screamed.

* * *

The argument wasn't over, the Doctor could see it in Donna's eyes, but she was uncertain now of her view on how Penny's medication should be handled. The Doctor was certain he could win her over, persuade her that his view was the correct one, if a bit unsavory for both sides. They had reached an impasse, the Doctor realized, he would stand down for now, but in the end, this was his TARDIS, his decisions were final. He sighed, "Just think on it, Donna. She won't need another dose for close to six hours or so, since Dr. Dogers was so kind to inform me when she had her last one."

She stiffed slightly, "And what'll you do?"

He looked at her flatly, "Nothing, you can make your final decision then. Penny's care and well-being in your hands." He turned away from her startled expression. "For now, we should make her comfortable, the trance should've been..." The Doctor trailed off.

"She's gone," Donna exclaimed, hurrying over to where Penny was once sitting. "Where could she go? You don't think that she-" Donna gestured to the door that led outside. "-went out there, do you?"

"Impossible, she would've had to slip past the both of us...and the TARDIS doors don't open in the Time Vortex."

"Well, she can't have gotten too far. Come on, Space-man," Donna offered a small smile before going down the hallway. The Doctor merely watched her for the moment, hoping that his companion would make the right decision and trying not to think about the consequences if she didn't...

* * *

I thrashed, trapped and suffocated by the furry bindings that had slowly tightened and constricted around me as I slept. I cried out in fear and terror and pain, my skull throbbing in agony, the pressure inside it unbelievable. When the Doctor and Donna finally located me, I was writhing on the floor of the wardrobe, tangled in fur, screaming my head off.

I fought them at first, so sure that they were the figures from my nightmare, until they convinced me that they were trying to help, peeled away the choking garments, and carried me into the sick-bay. It was then that Donna had made her decision for me to continue to be put on my medication. The Doctor assured her, once again, that she made the right choice.

I wasn't all that aware, but the Doctor talked about some of the scans he was doing in the sick bay. I couldn't tell whether he was talking to me, to Donna, or to himself, but I don't think it really mattered at that point. "All her organs are larger than normal, in comparison to her overall body size, but that might just be the dimensional differences between her reality and ours. Her brain is fairly large too, now that I look at it… Anyway, her brain activity is back to its normal level under the influence of her medication. That's good, very good, I was a bit worried that I might've had to intervene…

"She doesn't seem to have any illness, perfectly healthy, except for being an asthmatic, see, her airways are a bit inflamed, looks like she adapting though, not much of a concern. She _is_ sleep deprived, however, probably caused by those persistent nightmares. I can fix that with the neural dampener, thankfully. Penny, you can hear me, I bet, so don't worry, this won't hurt. You will just be asleep for a while, no nightmares." He reached above me as he said this, fiddling with something.

And I drifted.

* * *

When I awoke, I wasn't alone. I turned my head to see the Doctor watching me evenly. "How long?" I asked, wondering if he just sat there and stared at me the whole time I was asleep. The idea was unnerving.

"I've only been here a couple of minutes, but you've been sleeping for close to twelve hours. I'm guessing that you binge sleep whenever you can, when you readily deplete yourself, to keep your nightmares at bay," he leaned forward. I adverted my eyes, saying nothing, but that seemed to be answer enough for him. "Penelope," he said patiently.

I looked at him once again, he continued, "You still don't believe any of this is real, do you?"

"No…" I answered quietly, hoping that he wouldn't get upset with my answer.

"And that's fine, it's helped you to cope all this time, and it's what everyone else has been telling you all those years. However, you can't use that as your crutch anymore, it could cost you your life if you don't take things seriously. It's dangerous traveling with me if you believe none of it is real. I don't want to trap you in the TARDIS, but if it will ensure your safety, I will."

I looked at him, shocked and slightly scared. Seeing my expression, he hurried to add, "But while it can be dangerous, it's one of the best things out there, traveling through time and space, seeing things long past and yet to come. It's brilliant and it's beautiful and I want to be able to share it with you, Penelope. You don't have to worry about anything, you just need to get better, I-"

"Wh-what's wrong with me, then?"

"There's nothing _wrong_ with_ you_ exactly, you just need to be weaned off the medication your psychiatrists put you on… If I could, I would use a method that would stabilize your body to the correct chemical levels it was at before you started taking the neuroleptics within a day. However with the looming threat that your mind could burn as a result, I'll be going the much safer but slower route."

He leaned back in his chair, "What that means for you, Penelope, is that you'll have to remain in the safety of the TARDIS for the next few weeks, taking a steadily decreasing amount of your regular prescription and this pill that I made specifically for you. It's loaded with the chemicals you are currently lacking in comparison to the compound that the regular medicine is providing you." He slid a cup of water and two pills over to me. Noticing my hesitant expression, he gave a reassuring smile, purposefully making eye contact. "Trust me," he requested simply.

His eyes held much warm and kindness. There was a sharpness that I haven't noticed before that showed though the warmth, like a parent giving a look to their child, telling them to listen. I took the pills with the water and the sharpness in his eyes faded. He nodded, "Good." Moving the tray-table on wheels away from me, he scooted his chair closer. "I've been doing some scans, some tests while you've been sleeping."

I frowned, _'Tests?' _Out loud, I asked, "What, like the st-stereotypical aliens from Mars type of tests?" I tried to give a smile, to show that I was joking, trying to lighten the mood, make myself more comfortable. The Doctor's face turned to a worried and slightly offended expression and I quickly back-pedaled. "Or like your n-namesake, Doctor-like tests, m-medical ones?"

The expression remained but he continued, voice light, "Medical ones, of course. You humans certainly have a wild imagination when it comes to aliens, little green men, honestly…" He sighed, "Either way, they came out mostly normal, but you're absolutely covered in void stuff, the little floating green things, see?"

I grinned a bit when he took out the 3-D glasses, I had such an attention to detail. He stuck them on my face and I looked at the floating greenish-yellow particles. I snuck a look at the Doctor and confirmed that he had some too. The amount on him was much smaller though, did it fade away over time? Probably. It was also likely the only reason why I was on the TARDIS in the first place in my delusional mindscape.

A thought occurred to me. If I could find a way to be dropped off the TARDIS by the Doctor, the apparition himself, maybe I would be alright. Maybe this was a momentary loss of my senses that would soon return the moment the void stuff disappeared and faded completely away like the Doctor's was. I said out loud, "I h-have a lot of it, it must fade away over t-t-time then, since you have so little. Once it's all gone, c-can I leave and go back to the home?"

He winced and I hurriedly added, "I'm sure traveling with you would be l-lovely, but I…I've already seen so much, I just…I just want to settle down, live a normal life. I want to be m-mediocre, average, just be a normal, apparently clueless human wandering around, doing n-nothing too extraordinary. I want to forget." My confession of my desires seemed to make things worse as the Doctor then refused to look at me. Tentatively, I asked, "How long does it take for it to f-fade, the void stuff? When can I leave this dream, Doctor?"

"…You went through the void unprotected. I was in my TARDIS, which is why I have so much less compared to you… You're naturally exuding large amounts of it."

"So a long time, then? L-longer than it's going to take me to get off the m-medicine?" I deflated slightly. "That's a long time."

"Much longer than you think, Penelope," the Doctor said sadly. He moved to say more, but I shook my head.

"D-don't tell me, I don't want to know anymore…too depressing. Wh-what else did you find out?"

"You're from a different dimension, too different internally to be anything else and just traveling back in time wouldn't explain all you know and the void stuff."

"Well, you're supposed to be a f-fictional character. I mean, being slightly obsessed over fictional characters isn't w-weird, is it? They don't exist. I can't help that I f-fell in love with escaping my own story and living somebody else's t-t-tale. I was a big fan, you know. I didn't watch much of the show, the new series, because of school and…and family issues. I researched a lot though, internet sites like 'Rassilon, Omega, and that Other guy' or…or the 'TARDIS Wiki.' Th-then there were Trock bands like the 'Chameleon Circuit' and 'Time Children.'" I smiled, remembering. "You were very p-p-popular, Doctor, especially this regeneration."

"Penelope," the Doctor said, looking pained. "It would be best if you refrained from revealing the information you know so freely."

I blinked, surprised, "But e-everyone knows those things and the information is easy to access. N-nothing I said is something that can't be found easily-"

"Penelope, please, for your sake as well as mine, don't."

"Nothing, 'Doctor Who' related?" I asked incredulous.

"Nothing unless it was already brought up in conversation and even then, try not to."

"…'Kay," I said, frowning slightly.

The Doctor closed his eyes, letting out an exhale of relief, "Good." There was a short silence until the Doctor straightened and clapped his hands together. "Alright, now, Penelope, you have free rein of the TARDIS. Only rules are that you can't leave it, don't touch the console, and you have to return to the sickbay to receive your medicine. The TARDIS will nudge you in the right direction when the time comes."

"…'Kay." I nodded hesitantly as the Doctor got up to leave, but before he did, I asked. "Doctor?" He turned to look at me expectantly. "Could I… Would you… May I hear your heartsbeat?"He looked surprised and a bit speechless at my strange request.

I felt the need to explain, so I clarified, "I know you have two h-hearts, but the show, as far as I seen, never showed what your hearts sounded like. I never looked it up and n-never heard what two hearts sounded like beating together… If you are just an apparition… I mean…" Frustrated, my hands fluttered in a random manner impatiently, as I tried to search for the right words in my mind to describe what I was trying to say. "It'll sound like I'm just listening to…to just one heart, I won't hear an echo of another."

His expression became one of understanding and slight bemusement. "Ah, right, let's see if I have a stethoscope in here…"He dug around in one of his coat pockets and I had to bite back a laugh at the comical sight of him digging around up to his elbow before finding what he was looking for. Secretly, just between you and me, I think he knew exactly where it was in his pocket, he just wanted to lighten the mood. He did this a lot, act a bit silly to make people feel more at ease, he was kind like that.

Gently, he inserted the earplugs of the stethoscope into my ears and put the flat metal part into my hand, before taking my hand into his own. He guided it to the middle of his chest, almost as if he knew that listening to one heart at a time wouldn't cut it, that I believed my imagination would just insert the sound of a heart beating when needed. Closing my eyes, I concentrated hard, listening intently.

At first I could only hear the sound of his breathing, each inhale and exhale he did. But there, softly, in the background, I could hear them beating.

_Ba-ba-bump-bump._

_Ba-ba-bump-bump._

_Ba-ba-bump-bump._

I remembered my Human Anatomy class and learning about the heart. Heck, I had dissected both a deer and sheep heart before too, learning about the heart and its functions. I knew what I was hearing, how I was hearing it, and why. '_A cardic cycle consists of the events occurring during one heartbeat. During early diastole, the ventricles are relaxed while the atria are contracting and the pulmonary and aortic valves close while the atrioventicular valves open, creating the "ba" sound in the heart beat. During the mid-to-late diastole, the atria are relaxed while the ventricles contract and the atrioventicular valves close while the pulmonary and aortic valves open, creating the "bump" sound in the heartbeat.'_

Without a doubt, I was hearing this process happening at two different times, the hearts were in tandem with each other, it was just that one was half a beat behind the other. Shaken, and a little bit in awe, I pulled away. The Doctor took back his stethoscope and said something, but I was too rattled to respond. Possibly knowing that he wouldn't be able to get another word out of me, the Doctor left with another comment, possibly telling me to take it easy for the next few weeks, but I couldn't be certain.

* * *

There were many places to hide in the TARDIS, I soon found out. Sinks, cupboards, dryers, trunks, and boxes, the options were endless. My giant wardrobe was my favorite, it was unfortunate that I had that nightmare in it, but the Narnian wardrobe had nothing to do with it.

Not that it mattered, I didn't sleep much these days anyway.

I lost track how long I had been here in the TARDIS, time had no meaning. The fog remained constant, thoughts hard to form, memories hard to gather, words hard to vocalize. The hum never left either, the subtle vibration always underfoot and could be both heard and felt always. I wasn't bothered by it, though, it was comforting in its tone and pitch. I never gained the feeling that I was alone here, even though I was left to my own devices for the most part.

It was in my wandering, that I had found a room to call my own. Well, I say I found it, because I did, in a way, but it already had my name painted in my handwriting with a forest green paint on the royal blue door. When I opened it, I was not disappointed with what I found.

Gravity globes, made in miniature, about the size of my fist provided the light in the room. They were a light blue in color and benignly floated above me. I later found out when I wanted to sleep, the gravity globes dimmed, the small lights on the ceiling could be seen. The lights on the dark ceiling could be interpreted as stars in the night sky. There were fogged stained-glass jars that hung in my room which flickered and shined like they had fireflies inside them and would come on with the stars.

Plants made their home in this room, but were not trying to take over like in natural settings that they otherwise seemed wont to do. There were metal insects and birds flittering and fluttering around in the room: dragonflies, butterflies, and songbirds. The floor felt like soft grass without the dirt and mess, safe to walk on without fear of stepping on something sharp or getting grubby.

My bed hung from the ceiling with sheer curtains added for the option of privacy, covered in fluffy, furry blankets and, to my delight, all the stuffed animals from my room at home. The shelves and desks in the room were empty at first, waiting for me to fill them, and I did, finding something new all the time in my exploration of the TARDIS. Baubles, trinkets, paperweights, alien musical instruments, shiny and glowing rocks, drawings, sketches of ideas, maps, small wood carvings of creatures, machinery, coils of wiring, and many books and scrolls all started making their respective homes in my room.

I grew to love the room, it becoming my Fortress of Solitude, which was so named in honor of Grandpa who jokingly called the cabin by Lake Superior that title. I missed him, my grandpa, he was the only one who really understood my irritation when others couldn't understand my thought processes or my trouble with certain sociological rules and codes of conduct. He understood my trouble with interpreting people correctly. He understood how sometimes the world seemed slow and couldn't catch up with me while others it seemed to spiral so fast out of control that it left me dazed and confused and behind in the dust. There was no one quite like him, he could've been anything, the world at his fingertips…

But life never quite works out the way it should.

The loss hit me hard, I've never had the time to mourn, it never quite hit me that everything that I ever cared for and loved was really, truly gone.

I was all alone, and it_ killed_ me.

* * *

The first time the TARDIS went through its flight, I wasn't aware enough to register it. Now I was, and was terrified every minute of it, not having a clue of what was happening. The moment the shaking stopped, I searched for the console room, shaken and hoping for some answers. I found it and with it the Doctor, but he was alone. There was no Donna.

But the Doctor seemed happy, gleeful even, so I knew that she hadn't left yet.

"D-Doctor?" I asked and he froze, slowly turning to face me, brown eyes wide and startled. "Wh-what was that? Did the T-TARDIS land?"

"What?!" He exclaimed, looking slightly alarmed. "They didn't say he had another companion, and he always takes them with him! Who're you supposed to be?" He squinted and stepped closer. "You look familiar, what's your relation to the Doctor?"

"Doctor, y-you're scaring me," I whimpered, stepping back. Something was off, his eyes were off, something was missing, what was it?

"What's your name, sweetheart?" He asked. The voice was the same, exactly the same, but the words were wrong, the accent was right but the wrong words were being used.

"Y-you don't remember me? I'm Penelope Elaine Carter."

His eyes flashed in recognition. "Oh, yes! I remember now, you're his ward! There wasn't much data on you, the Doctor did too good of a job keeping the spotlight off of you for the most part. It was almost as if you appeared out of thin air. I'm Baris by the way, the Doctor's number one fan. I've even had Mega Plastic Surgery to look like him, see? Even my insides are the same," he gushed.

"Your eyes," I said, realizing what was missing. "They're wrong, the age, that's what was m-missing." I shook my head. "You need to go, the Doctor…he wouldn't like this."

Baris looked apologetic, "Sorry, Sweetheart, can't help you there. Sebastiene and I made a deal, I need to take the TARDIS, it's almost time for the hunt." He frowned. "I'd rather you not get hurt, but Sebastiene's orders were clear. You're my hostage now." A surprised look crossed his face. "Ooh, a hostage, never thought I'd ever be in the position of having one, least of all the Doctor's kid."

"H-he's going to be upset with you," I said nervously. "You seem like a n-nice man, you should leave before he gets back."

"I can't do that. Both you and Donna Noble are my hostages, as soon as I get her."

"But-" I tried to protest but was interrupted by the Doctor's look alike.

"No, I'm sorry." He gestured behind him. "Now sit down on the jump-seat while I fly the TARDIS, so you don't get hurt. It reportedly gets heavy turbulence, but you probably already knew that." I shook my head, scared, and fled from the console room. I heard Baris call after me, but he didn't give chase, knowing just as well as I did that there was no other way out except through him.

* * *

My all-consuming relief when I saw Donna wandering around the halls was immense. When I worriedly went and told her about the imposter Doctor, it turned out that she already knew. She led me away to the kitchen and we sat down, with her telling me exactly what had happened.

The Doctor had been hunted by Sabastiene, a megalomaniac from the supposedly mythical Planet One, the first planet in the universe. Which almost made me laugh, because I remembered reading somewhere that Professor River Song from the Library had supposedly graffiti-ed a cliff on it with the "oldest message in the universe," which was purportedly, 'Hello, Sweetie.'

Anyway, Sebastiene enlisted the help of the Endangered Dangerous Species Society, a group of the most ruthless hunters in the galaxy, to help him hunt the most dangerous being in the universe: the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords.

Sebastiene used a genetic copy of the Doctor, the fan named Baris, to steal the TARDIS and kidnap Donna and me to use us as bait. Baris lured the Doctor to Planet One, but it didn't take long for the Doctor to turn the tables on his twin. He managed to switch places with Baris, which only complicated matters. The Doctor had to save Donna, recover the TARDIS (with me still inside it, since I hid within the maze the whole time), and keep the hunters from killing Baris, all at the same time.

There were explosive robots and trains and alien bounty hunters, and Donna made it all sound so exciting, like a block buster movie! I didn't envy her one bit though at being a hostage and almost suffocating to death. The last part wasn't Baris's fault, in fact, Donna went so far as to say that he was a "nice bloke" but for the fact he kidnapped her, absconding away with her in the Doctor's TARDIS. When I asked though, she didn't know what happened to him, as he left with Sebastiene, loyal to the end.

I eagerly asked her about her other adventures and relished listening to her and the Doctor's escapades through her point of view. Seeing Gandhi and "ghosts" in India, the Planet of the Ood, and rock-men-posing-as-transformers in Rome. I was in awe of her, she had always been one of my favorite companions next to Leela, Jo Grant, Ace, and Sarah Jane Smith. Seeing her in person, however, turned my fondness into something of a hero worship.

I liked her a lot, took to following her around the TARDIS. She made me feel safe, reminded me a lot of my grandma and a bit of Mama. She was a self-assured and passionate individual, a character of strength, so much more lively and spirited than what was shown in the show. Donna didn't seem to mind me shadowing her, probably found it a little humorous, never commented on it, which for that I was thankful.

I saw the Doctor too sometimes when I wandered around the TARDIS, trailing after where Donna went to be. He would always ask how I was feeling, if I got enough sleep (frowning disapprovingly when I gave the negative), and how I was adjusting. He didn't press me into believing that this was real after our conversation in the sick-bay, but I had a feeling that it was merely the calm before the storm, that he would start on me about that soon enough. I had felt uncomfortable with that idea since Donna had been trying to convince me about it for ages by telling me stories about herself from her past…things that were never mentioned in Doctor Who lore.

For one thing, she was allergic to peanuts.

"Hell," she said, "When I was in my third year of school, I used to watch my mates eat their mum's peanut brittle and their peanut butter and jam sandwiches, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to try it. So, I stuck myself with the epipen and ate as much peanut butter food as I could get my hands on before going up to the teacher and telling 'im to call an ambulance. Had to get my stomach pumped and never dared to do it again, but was so worth it. Never regretted it for a second."

Really, she was always an independent and dauntless woman, who I distinctly remembered was portrayed as one of _the_ best companions the Doctor ever had, even when she was in elementary school, apparently. I didn't mind talking to her, even if she was just a hallucination that I was for certain that my mind came up with so I wouldn't be so…lonely. They, the Doctor and Donna, were great company and ever so kind.

I secretly wished that they were real, that I was kidnapped from the hospital to be flown away in the TARDIS with them. I wanted to pretend, even for just a second, that I was going to fly with them and see the stars. I wanted to have something to call my own, something familiar. No matter how long I stayed at the hospital, I never got used to it. All the things there weren't mine, just the drawings and stories and memories. Things of fiction that could never, ever be real.

I wasn't Penelope Elaine Carter.

I was just used her name, took it as my own, and stole her whole life and identity. I was thief, a cuckoo bird pushing the other fledgling off the nest and trying to take her place, a leech. Everything I was, was all just a lie, a fabricated life, a fairy's tale.

It was all I had.

I was all alone with only my fake life and dreams for company.

Alone.

I hated that word, alone, and I hated that it stuck with me so persistently. Just this once, I wanted something to call my own, and I was getting desperate enough that I would be willing to just let go, to let go and hope for the best. If I just went along with the situation, just accepted it, things would be so much easier. Maybe I was crazy and had finally snapped. I had finally broke and started to imagine this fantastic dream and believe it was real. I had finally made up some imaginary friends that were the characters I wrote about in my books. I was going to go off on adventures with them and see new worlds that my mind came up with. I had finally fallen asleep, never to wake up again in my hazy fog of awareness that was 'Reality.' I had finally lost it, and all I had to say about that was:

What took so long?

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_**Explanations:**_

* No, Penny did not have children in her universe before she got 'eaten' by the crack. Her nightmarish dream is just a vision of what could've been and also a warning to what will happen.

* Yes, there was a point to this nightmare. Any guesses to what the mysterious figure might be and why Penny's organs are bigger than normal?

* The sound of a Time Lord's heartsbeat is super cool! If you want to listen to the same thing Penny listened to, go onto Youtube and type in the keywords: The Heartbeat of a Timelord by Monketron. That was the best one I found, the video is a bit quiet, I would recommend turning up the volume after the advertisement to listen to it.

* And yes, that partially italicized paragraph about why a heart beat makes the sound it does, is true. I learned about it in my Human Anatomy class, so there was a use for that brutal course after all! *Chuckles*

* Baris is a real person, not in real life, but real in Doctor Who cannon. He features in the book, _'The Doctor Trap.'_ I gave the short summary in the chapter, but it's not as good as reading the book itself.

* Same thing applies with Gandhi and the ghosts. There's a Doctor Who book you should read called,_ 'The Ghosts of India.'_

* As far as I know, cannon!Donna isn't actually allergic to peanuts. I just wanted to add something more to my characters, make them come a bit more alive. Besides, you have to admit the peanut story does sound like something Donna would do.

* Yes, Penny is actually Penelope Elaine Carter, she's just been told otherwise for years now and is under the impression that her whole life is a lie. This will eventually be resolved in a few chapter or so for the most part, but remember, she is under the impression that everything is all in her mind, that she finally went crazy. It will take a long while before she'll be convinced otherwise.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE: **Imaginary Friend

**AUTHOR:** thatgirlinredandgold

**ID:** 9946709

**SUMMARY:** There were times throughout Anna's lonely childhood that she wished for an imaginary friend, and he came crashing into her life in a wonderful blue box.

**OPINION:** This will probably be one of the few crossovers I'll ever suggest to you guys, since I ususally dislike mixing fandoms, but this one wasn't half-bad. It's a Doctor Who and Frozen crossover with the main character being someone other than Elsa. I mean, I've got nothing against her, it's just, finally, Anna gets some action. :) It's well worth the read and the advertisement.

_**Thought Process:**_

Well, hey, hello there. I'm alive and have returned. *Throws confetti* So, it's summer, and I've graduated from high school. I have until August before I'm a freshman at college, so my goal is to write as much as I possibly can this summer. With Emptyvoices helping me, this shouldn't be too hard for the most part.

Speaking of my lovely beta, we're starting and AU crossover for this story and hers, the _'Lost in Time'_ one. We'll post it sometime after the next chapter, most likely, probably, hopefully, we'll see.

I don't have too much to say, so this make for a rather lacking author's note, but, eh, what can you do?

Have a lovely summer everyone.

Happy Monday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Submitted:_ Monday, June 9, 2014.


	6. Time Started To Move For Me Again

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

* * *

It was getting harder and hard to keep track of the time that passed here. I haven't see the light of day since I had last been in the hospital…and even then it had only been through a window. I wondered when I would wake up, if I would even wake up at all.

I had already accepted this fantasy as a reality, just as my life in the hospital was a reality and my life before the cracks was yet another reality. I decide to keep them all separate, they all seemed to have different rules and they expected different things. While sometimes the realities intersected, most of the time, they did not.

In order to cope, I had to be prepared for my life to change, yet again, any second. What would happen next, I had no idea. Maybe I would find myself back at home, maybe I would find myself in the intensive care wing at the hospital. I hoped not.

The last time I was there, I was sedated for most of the duration until my next visit to the psychologist Dr. Pierce. She liked to send me there often if she felt that I was too unruly or explosive. I learned after the first few times that it was best to maintain my silence. It was far too quiet and I was left alone with what little of my thoughts were left for too long.

I really started to dislike the color white then and also vowed to not wear clothes that were too confining or skin-tight.

Because if I really was in the intensive care wing, I realized, I would be seeing white and be wearing a strait jacket again for a long time.

* * *

I had been starting to think that nothing at all was real, that all of it was fake. I was starting to forget things again, and it was making me anxious. Really, the only thing I could clearly remember from my…existence before the cracks was biology. I still hated it, despised it with a passion, but the facts didn't dissipate like my memories of my early childhood were starting to.

It was little details, nothing specific. Like my parents' street address and phones numbers, what county Underwood was in, my brothers' birthdays, the name of the ice rink my grandma would take me to where we'd figure skate, the elementary school I went to… Things like that.

Maybe Dr. Pierce was right, if I couldn't remember how was it real in the first place?

* * *

The talk with the Doctor, the one that I had worried over having, finally happened. He told me that everything I ever remembered was real and that I mustn't forget that. I was doubtful though, because of how many times the memories conflicted with each other.

When I told the Doctor as much, he said that the doctors at the hospital I used be in had no clue that he actually existed. He also said that they thought I had leave of my senses because they couldn't believe the truth, that a misguided truth was easier to swallow.

I tried to explain to him, once again, that in my life before the cracks I remembered him being from a television series and how thousands of people knew and loved it. He wouldn't listen, tried to convince me that while I knew of him through those memories of watching on Netflix, it was actually my mind trying to make all the information easier for me to understand.

"You're in a fragile state of mind right now, Penelope," he had told me. "It's a delicate thing anyway, the mind, but with the emotional trauma you've suffered in the void…Now it's on the defensive. You've mentally regressed several years and you're lucky to not have gone into a fugue state…" He went on to specifics, telling me in technical and medical jargon about how I translated all the visions of the future into easily digestible episodes.

Eventually I told him that I hated biology and that the only science I could do was science fiction.

He pulled a face at my rather frank statement but let the subject go. "It's too soon," he muttered. "We'll try again in another week."

"Week?" I echoed. "H-how long have I b-been here?"

"Oh, thirteen days, nine hours, forty-two minutes, and sixteen seconds, but who's counting?" He joked.

"You are," I informed him helpfully.

* * *

I was starting to get restless here, wherever "here" was. I was still on the fence about whether or not I was actually in the TARDIS or only in my own mind. Donna and the Doctor had just gotten back from another adventure a few days ago and I had to admit, I was envious. I was becoming tired of being inside, regardless of the fact that this place was infinite.

"I've r-run out of words for b-big," I confided in Donna at one point.

"None of them seem adequate, do they?" She agreed.

"Not big e-enough though," I murmured.

Donna looked at me sympathetically before excusing herself, saying that she was going to have another word with the Doctor. Alone once again and left to my own devices, I sulked. All I really, truly wanted was to see outside, just a glimpse would be enough. I was starting to regret taking the sight of the outdoors for granted. When I was cooped up in the hospital, I would long to_ be_ outside, the view not being enough, but now…

A window to the outside would make me overjoyed.

I tried concentrating hard, hoping meditation would alter the environment around to the outdoors, if I was, indeed, dreaming. However, I only ended up looking somewhere between a hamster and a tomato. I let out a frustrated shriek and flopped on the table, completely done with the world. Moping wasn't the best way to solve a situation. In fact, it rarely worked at all unless you had a doting relative nearby at your beck and call or you were a little kid who was like two-years-old.

And it didn't make me feel better at all.

I started to fidget and ended up leaving the library, unable to stay still any longer. I couldn't stand it, I had to move. I was going to go crazy otherwise!

Well, even more so than I already was.

I felt the hallway give a sudden lurch and stumbled forwards, almost losing my footing. As I braced myself against the wall, I realized the Doctor was piloting the TARDIS somewhere. My guess was that he was trying to avoid the conversation Donna was trying to have with him or he had it with her and was trying to move on from it. The Doctor wasn't one to dwell in the matters like the one Donna probably wanted to talk about.

A pang of longing hit me, but I did my best to stifle it. "C'mon," I muttered. "Let's go t-try to find a garden or s-something." My legs refused to cooperate and this time I lost my footing, landing hard on my butt and banging my head on the wall on my way down. I yelped and rubbed the back of my head, it smarting more than my bottom did. It actually started to throb, a terrible headache began to form and all I wanted was to go take a painkiller.

With blood pounding in my ears, I got up from my seated position on the floor and dazedly stood, trying to get my thoughts in order despite the sudden onset of the headache. I wandered down the halls with one hand clutching my head and the other bracing me against the wall.

I briefly wondered how on Earth I was going to be able to find the painkillers in the sickbay, but my head gave another painful throb and I stopped thinking about it. The hallway suddenly seemed so stuffy and I felt nauseous. I needed air.

Shakily, trying to not get sick, I continued to make my way down the hall. I stumbled down a few more feet as I pressed against the wall, leaning against it. My legs couldn't support me any longer and I slowly slid down to the ground.

I let out a choked sound, feeling my heat beat faster and faster as the pressure continued to build. I couldn't breathe, I was so scared, my heart just kept beating faster and faster. Was I having a heart attack? Was I dying?

My vision tunneled and I knew no more.

* * *

I was outside.

I was startled to find myself out in the open and sitting on a bench, not in the TARDIS hallway as I had originally been. I looked around with a strong sense of confusion. How did I get here? Did I simply fall asleep or was the attack real and I passed out? But that wouldn't explain how I got out here. I searched the area around me for the familiar form of a tall, blue police public call box, but of it, I saw no sign. Stumped, I continued to survey the area around me.

I was all alone; there were only strangers here and no TARDIS, Doctor, or Donna.

Did I merely imagine the whole thing? Possibly, I mean, I was only going to be there temporally in the first place, I even told them as much. I must've reached the end of my delusion, just like all my visions ended.

Still, I was _outside_.

I closed my eyes, relishing the sound of the outdoors. There was the ambient chatter of voices as people went about their daily lives in the market area I had found myself in. There was the sound of a water area nearby, possibly a giant lake or a small river. Wind blew through some nearby trees and birds sang their various calls.

I opened my eyes. The light seems different from what I remember, a darker blue. It's richer and more vibrant, as if I'm viewing it through sunglasses. A tree branch moves in the breeze, its leaves a see-through green, so green it doesn't even seem like it could be real. I bend my head further back and gaze at the wall the tree trunk makes in obscuring my vison. Once, I learned that trees grow from the inside out, a circle of wood for each year.

I straighten and look once more at the imitation sky above me, it's too beautiful to be real, but maybe it's because it's been so long since I last seen it. My heart beats an off-rhythm and it makes me cough. The motion seems to awaken me from whatever trance I had been in and I stand, even though I'm unsure of where to go next.

I wandered, having no specific place in mind, just moving my legs and enjoying the warmth that the sun gives me. A marina appears before me, but I am not surprised about that, I had heard the wave and water birds calling out to each other. What I _am_ surprised about is, is how it's not the lake I thought it would be. It wasn't the lake by Underwood _or_ Fergus Falls.

It was a giant and unfamiliar bay.

"Where am I?" I murmured, confused. This couldn't be right. How far away have I gone? How far had I sleep-walked? Is sleep-walking even a thing when you weren't really asleep in the first place? With my luck, I wouldn't be surprised. Either way, though, I needed to go back to the hospital; I needed to call for someone to retrieve me. I didn't have a phone, so I needed to borrow one from somebody.

I looked around for anything that might help and spotted an italicized and cursive blue "I" out of the corner of my eye. '_Information_,' I recognized with a heavy sense of relief. I made my way down the stairs and over the information…something. Was it a hut, shack, store? I couldn't tell, but decided it would be better to call it a store since this word seem less offensive if said out loud.

I opened the door and was greeted by a man behind the counter. He seemed vaguely familiar, as if I had seen him before somewhere. I hoped he didn't recognize me, because that would just be mortifying to have him remember me when I couldn't remember him.

He had light, close-cropped brown hair and honest brown eyes. Once again, I was struck with how similar these eyes were to my brothers' eyes. This man's eyes, however, in no way reminded me of my grandpa's eyes. His young face, maybe late twenties or extremely early thirties, turned towards my direction, he examined me.

"Normally," he said with a bit of humor. "Most stores have a policy that goes something like, 'No shirt, no shoes, no service,' but you seem a bit lost, so I'll make an exception."

I looked down, my feet were both bare and extremely dirty. I now noticed a dull throb and tinge of pain coming from my feet. Why had I gone without my shoes? I went barefoot in the TARDIS in my dreamscape, but never in the hospital…

I must've lost them. It was my only logical explanation.

"Alright?" He asked, the concern that developed in his tone drew my attention back to him.

I nodded hesitantly before changing my mind and shaking my head. "I-I'm lost, do you know wh-where I am?"

"By the Roald Dahl Plass, just a short walk away."

"Wh-where?" I asked in surprise.

"Roald Dahl Plass, it's in Cardiff, Wales," he answered slowly and carefully.

"Wales?!" I exclaimed in alarm. "I'm in Wales?!" I shook my head. "N-no, there m-must be s-some mistake. I sh-should be in M-Minnesota, n-not Wales."

The man had an unreadable look on his face and he asked me cautiously, "You were in America? What was the last thing you remember?"

"A b-bad headache," I answer honestly. "M-my heart beating s-so fast, I thought I w-was having a h-heart attack." I shook my head. "I n-need to call the h-hospital."

"Are you injured?" He asked me in alarm, coming out from behind the counter.

Distantly, I shook my head again, pushing up my pink sleeve from my long-sleeved shirt. I twisted the hard, plastic, hospital bracelet I was wearing. I showed it to him. "I-I was al-already in one. I n-need to go b-back."

He took my proffered arm gently and looked my bracelet, reading the information on it. His eyebrows rose in surprise and shock before lowering in a serious expression. His eyes then looked at me, seeing my patient and hopeful expression as I looked back at him. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, "Why don't you wait here on this seat while I talk to my…" His voice trailed off before finally settling on the word, "…manager."

"…'kay," I said agreeably. I went to the chair he indicated and winced slightly at the sting and protest my feet gave now that I had finally noticed them. I heard him suck in a breath and turned to see what he was looking at. There were traces of blood where I walked, small smears. "Oh," I murmured. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "It's fine. I'll get Jack and the first-aid kit…" He went behind the 'staff only' door, and I was left to my own devices. I absent-mindedly swung my feet, which were hovering several inches off the ground because of the too-tall chair. I unintentional brought a memory to the surface, it was about one of the road trips with my grandparents, one of our longer journeys.

I remember looking out a window as I swing my legs back and forth. On one side of the car are rocks and the ocean. On the other side of the car are dense trees and big fields. Grandma would always bring her entire modern classical CD collection. I remember the tune "I Wonder as I Wander" and my grandma's fingers dancing softly across her lap.

Unconsciously, I had started to hum that half-remembered tune.

"You weren't kidding, Ianto," came a distinctly familiar, non-British voice. "We really do have a barefoot, little girl in our store." I looked up and the tune died in my throat.

I really, really couldn't help noticing how good-looking he was, especially at this short of a distance. Not the ordinary sort of good looking either, but the Hollywood actor kind, the Brad Pitt cheekbones and double dimples kind. Funny thing was, all my thoughts just sort of froze. I had no thoughts going through my head and it let me just sort of mentally step back to admire him. A long pause went out before I realized I should say something.

"Hi."

Then he smiled.

I couldn't help but wonder at it. As an aspiring dental hygienist, you have to be able to notice a perfect smile when you see it, and that's what it was, perfect. No, they weren't just perfect, they were immaculate. I've never-and I mean _never_-seen such a beautiful set in anyone mouth before. Even more astounding, I bet they were natural, no work needing to be done.

I blinked hard and shook my head, I could feel it clearing up already once the initial reaction of stunned amazement passed. "H-has anyone told y-you that you've g-got a great set of t-teeth?"

He looked taken aback briefly but his lovely, gorgeous smile was quick to return to its original place. "Not usually, no, they're too busy checking out other things that I got a great set of." He winked flirtatiously. I felt my whole face, neck, and ears burn.

"N-no. I m-mean, I'm-I'm s-s-sure you d-do, but-but I… erm," I stumbled over my words, my thoughts abandoning me just when I needed them the most. I uneasily looked away, uncomfortable with the rolling sensation that I had just gotten in the pit of my stomach, which kept doing not-completely-unpleasant flips.

He laughed, "Just kidding, kiddo. Chief would probably skin me alive." He walked over and offered his hand. "Mind if I see the bracelet?" I shyly handed my arm over, trying to ignore how it was tingling where he held it. My blush increased two-fold.

He hummed thoughtfully, "Didn't know he had a cell, but then again, didn't know he had a ward either." I looked up at him in confusion as he released my arm and walked away a few paces to make a phone call.

The man from before-Ianto, was it?-took the man-with-the-great-teeth's place, brandishing a wash cloth and a first-aid kit. He started to gently clean my feet, despite my protests of, 'I can do that.' He then disinfected them, added a clear cream, and carefully wrapped my feet with gauze. He looked up with a knowing smile. "You can take the bandages off in a few hours."

"T-To change them?" I asked for clarification.

"No, just take them off," Ianto answered but didn't give any further explanation before he got up and went behind the door again. I frowned at the door he had went through in confusion but the subject and source of my puzzlement didn't return. After a while, I turned my attention to my bracelet on my wrist, idly reading it.

**Name: **Penelope Elaine Carter

**Age: **24

**DOB: **November 6

**Ailment: **Mental Disorientation and Regression

**Caretaker: **The Doctor

**If Lost Please Contact Me: **0770-090-0461

I made a quiet noise of alarm before rubbing my eyes and checking again. This couldn't be right, this wasn't what was supposed to be on the bracelet. I must be hallucinating again. This wasn't good.

Swallowing hard, I hid the bracelet underneath my long sleeve once more, unable to look at it anymore, unable to bear the fact I was losing my mind…again.

The man-with-the-great-teeth ended his call and snapped his cellphone shut. '_Again with the flip-phones!_' I smiled briefly at the thought. Images of stereotypical valley-girls munching on bubble gum as they chattered on their pink phones before shutting them with a crisp sounding _snap! _went through my mind. I shook my head, clearing it, now was not the time for daydreams.

The man came over, his white teeth flashing in the light of the store. "Well, I just called the Doctor and spoke with him. He didn't even realize you were missing until I called! He usually isn't that careless… Said something about you never giving the inclination of wandering off before. What changed that?"

I stared at him as if he had grown two heads. "You're joking, right?"

"Try me," was all he said, folding his arms across his chest.

I frowned at him disapprovingly. "R-really, it's not funny. I understand if y-you're a fan of my b-books, but you shouldn't play j-jokes like that."

"Like what?"

I let out a frustrated noise, "The D-Doctor isn't real. You have a p-poor taste in jokes. It's not funny."

Realization rippled through his face. "So that's what it meant by mental disorientation." He looked at me in consideration, muttering to himself, "And I has a good hunch as to what the other is." Louder, he said to me, "If he wasn't real, then how could I have been talking to him?"

"I-I…well…you could be l-lying," I offered.

"Maybe," he allowed. "But then who was I taking to just then?"

"I don't know," I admitted sheepishly. "I-I wasn't paying attention."

"Right," he sighed before trying a different tactic. "How about I prove to you that he's real?"

"How?" I asked him dubiously.

"By taking you to meet him," the man answered breezily as he looked at his watch. I stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't actually believe that the Doctor was real, could he? Just how far was he going to go with this prank? Was he deluded too? It might not be safe to stay around him much longer… I moved to get up so as to try to sneak away or run, but my feet tingled again and I was dissuaded from that idea.

My movement attracted his attention anyway, and he looked at me, eyes catching notice of my bandaged feet. "Ooh, forgot about your shoeless-state." He scratched the back of his head. "Don't think we have any extra boots to loan you, sorry." He seemed to puzzle over what to do before he snapped his fingers as an idea hit him. "You can't walk with your feet like that, so I'll just carry you."

"Wh-what?" I asked, completely bewildered and positive that I had heard him wrong.

"You don't look like you weigh anything and it's just a short walk to where the TARDIS is parked," he assured me, wrongly assuming that I was concerned about being too heavy and not worried about some stranger carting me off somewhere. He starting striding towards me and, alarmed, I made to back away, only to find that I had nowhere to go with the chair behind me.

In a smooth motion, he hoisted me onto his back where I wrapped my arms and legs tightly around him, certain that I would fall off and hit my head otherwise. I eep-ed and he chuckled as he starting giving me a piggy-back ride out of the store.

I was amazed that he made it up the stairs without having to readjust me even once.

"D-Do you work out or s-something?" I asked, trusting him enough to loosen my grip and relax slightly.

He shook with laughter, answering, "Or something."

I shook my head. "Wh-who even are you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness at your service," he replied, turning his head around to give a flirty wink. I flushed red, unsure of how to respond or react, brain too shut down from his pheromones to process his name properly. "I already know your name, though, Penny. I can call you that, right?"

I think I managed to nod, I can't quite remember.

"Jack, quit it!" A voice snapped. "Don't you start this up again." My mouth dropped open in surprise. There, right in front of me, was a large and wooden box in a deep shade of blue and standing next to it was a man that I was so sure didn't exist. Yet, there he was in all of his Time Lord glory, frowning at me and my carrier. His eyes lowered and narrowed, focusing intensely on my feet. "What happened there?"

Jack made to shrug, but it was a bit difficult with me on his back. "She was running around without any shoes on, what do you expect?" He asked rhetorically before he changed the subject slightly. "So, do you care to explain what all this is about, Doc? This is the first time I've ever heard of you doing something even remotely medical."

The Doctor sighed, "Penelope is precognitive and has been publishing books about my life until recently. She's somehow survived going through the void and it's taken a toll on her mentality…Although, most of it I'm attributing to being in a mental facility and being heavily medicated for several years."

"Do you think that there's going to be any side-effects?" Jack asked the Doctor seriously.

"Not quite sure yet, but she needs to be monitored and under my supervision," the Doctor responded.

"But keeping her aboard the TARDIS like you have…" Jack's voice trailed off.

"It's temporary until she is off the neuroleptics. Penelope becomes easily disoriented with her surroundings and for weeks didn't accept the TARDIS as reality." The Doctor paused, a sheepish look starting to form on his face. "Actually, that was the original reason why we stopped in Cardiff before Penelope wandered off. Donna and I were discussing the possibility of taking her out on adventures with the two of us."

"And what was your verdict?" Jack asked half-jokingly and half-serious.

"Well, before I was a bit hesitant, I'll admit, but now I see that most of my concerns were unfounded," came the bemused answer. There was a pause. "Would you like to join us, Jack?"

Jack shook his head. "Can't, sorry, Doc, but I got my own team now, can't spare the time."

"The TARDIS is a time machine," the Doctor tried.

"With you driving it."

"Oi! I do a brilliant job driving her!" He protested.

"But I've seen better."

"What? Who?"

"You know who," Jack said in exasperation.

"What, Voldemort?"

"Ha-ha, very funny. You're going to have to confront it someday, Doctor, can't avoid it forever."

"Watch me," came the stubborn reply.

Jack sighed, "Right, well, I have to be getting back. Time to get down, kiddo." I loosened my grasp even more and he gently set me down on my own two feet. He ruffled my hair and grinned in a friendly manner. "You can come for a visit anytime but make sure your guardians know where you are next time," Jack chided me lightly.

The Doctor startled, repeating, "'Guardians?' How can you be so sure there's another?"

"Since when you do travel alone for long periods of time?" Jack countered. "You have another companion with you, just mentioned her…Donna, right?" He craned his neck to look around the Doctor at the TARDIS. "Any chance she's coming out so I can say 'hi?'"

"None, it starts with just a 'hi' with you," the Doctor accused.

"Ooh, harsh," Jack winced before a sly grin took residence on his face. He leaned down and mock whispered in my ear, "Between you and me, I think he's just jealous of the attention I gave everyone else. I still haven't bought him that drink yet."

"Wh-what?" I squeaked, looking between the Doctor and Jack with wide eyes.

"Jack!" The former sputtered in protest, tugging me away from the latter. "Quit it!" Jack just laughed and gave a final wave as he turned, walking away from us. The Doctor watched him go with a mixture of exasperation and fondness before turning to me with a slight frown, looking very confused indeed. "How did you get out?" He asked me.

I shrugged, a frown starting to develop on my own face. "D-Don't know, I-I think I p-passed out."

The Doctor's frown deepened and he turned, opening the wooden door beside him. "Well, that's not good." He went inside and disappeared, voice trailing away after him, "I'll do some cranial scans and a full body diagnostic scan. Might have to go inside myself, though, to make sure nothing's amiss…"

I stayed put outside of the large, blue, wooden, phone booth and looked at it apprehensively. I feared what lay inside, it could all be real…or it could not be. The question was, how would I know the difference? Gulping, I inched forward, peeking inside and gasping. A cavernous console room glared back at me and I backed away, rubbing my eyes for good measure. Right in front of me was a demure looking booth with its door open, but inside the door was…was…_extraordinary_.

A memory or a vision of a foggy and cloudy landscape with a sky absolutely filled with stars came to me. I saw the same blue box, only a bit dirtier and unkempt looking, in front of me. I could hear arguing voices but they were muted and indistinguishable, two people strode toward the booth. The man flashily shoved open both doors and continued to stride inside of it. The interior was completely dark expect for four dark, glowing, purple circles and a light blue light that was quickly obscured by the man's body and the woman followed behind him.

The view was over her left shoulder and I could clearly see the two exterior sides of the box and the complete, marvelous interior of the box that was far too big to be real! Its complete vastness was revealed when the man flipped on the lights. Everything looked so alien, machine-like…something you would expect to see in a stereotypical flying saucer. A voice clearly came to me and I spoke along, "It's called the TARDIS and it can travel anywhere in time and space…"

…_and it's mine._

Abruptly, I jolted to awareness with a start. I stared at the inside before hurriedly circling around the outside, ignoring the tingles and random jolts of pain it caused my feet. I knocked on the wooden walls and waved my hands around it, but it was solid, there weren't any extra invisible bits. I circumvented it a second time, sure that I had missed something, when the Doctor stuck his head out, looking amused.

For a moment I saw double when he said, "Go on, say it. Most people do." I stared at him before hurrying inside the booth, certain that was where the trick was. The small chuckle he gave overlapped with the chuckle of the other man.

The inside of the booth, of the _TARDIS_, was completely different from the other one I had saw. This one was the magical, whimsical one I remembered. I saw it with new eyes now, feeling like I went through the gate of Terabithia and entered a whole new world, a world that had one particular quality that strangely reminded me of…

"You stole Mary Poppins's purse!" I blurted out, completely stunned.

I could hear him choke in surprise. "What?"

"Her purse," I repeated, turning to face him. "You took it!" I waved around the general area of the console room. "Th-This box holds more than sh-should be possible!"

The Doctor looked mildly insulted, sputtering, "My TARDIS is better than some carpet bag! Yes, the qualities are the same with them being dimensionally transcendental, but my TARDIS is so much more!"

"It really is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," I murmured in a daze, wrapping my arms around myself. "It's all real, I'm not dreaming."

"No," the Doctor told me, his voice softening. "No, you're not." His hand landed on my shoulder and he started to lead me down the hallway. "C'mon," he said. "There's something I need to check first before we go get Donna."

* * *

The Doctor was put in a tough position. The results of the scans were normal and the tests were negative concerning any brain damage. Penelope's mind was completely healthy, if only a little off-balance from the remains of the neuroleptics. The Time Lord supposed that the anti-psychotics could be the source of her blackout and memory loss, but it was highly unlikely that such a small amount would cause such a strong reaction.

He needed to get a closer look, some things needed to be observed manually and couldn't be picked up by devices, especially if it was a mental problem and not a physical one.

Thing was, this also provided the Doctor the chance to answer some other, more pressing mysteries.

"I just need you to answer some questions, Penny," he said, using the pet name that Donna seemed so fond to use, he hoped it would put her more at ease. "Just listen to my voice and look me in the eyes, yes, like that." He gently took her hands in his, with three points of contact, she would slip into a trance without any trouble, especially since she didn't suspect a thing. Gently, slowly, he enclosed her mind with his empathic field, guiding her into her subconscious, into a deep hypnotic trance.

"What do you remember from before coming into the hospital?" He asked, starting out easy.

"I was walking home and saw a glow coming from the Old Tree. I went over to it and was consumed by the light. I heard the echoes and not-wind, the Song of Time itself. It was so beautiful…" She said dreamily, surprisingly without a hint of her usual stutter. This pointed it out to be a highly-developed nervous tic, having a psychological cause instead of a physiological one, something that would require speech therapy as well as regular therapy sessions to be rid of. The Doctor grimaced, that would be the last thing that Penelope needed at the moment.

The subject of his musings continued, "But then, something changed, it didn't want me anymore, and I fell into the darkness. It was so dark, Doctor. So, so very dark. The voices, the screams, everywhere, I could hear them. The chill seemed to sink to your bones, I was so scared. I wasn't alone, they were everywhere, hiding, lurking, waiting, the monsters, the Great Evil, the forgotten, the banished, the punished…"

She trailed off, a near imperceptible tremor started, a faintly intimidated expression crossed her face. It disturbed the Doctor how much she was able to feel and then express in this state, the fear must be deeply ingrained and intense if it was able to make a small break through the trance and show itself. "They were going to kill me, I was dead, but they were going to kill me. I did almost die, got close to it with a dalek, but the Great Devourer killed it first because it drew attention to itself.

"My mind started to burn at one point. I was dying, I would've died, if I wasn't sedated when I was. There was too much knowledge inside my head, all those things I knew...It came from the creatures around me. I...I killed them. All those Daleks and Cybermen and Weeping Angels and Chronomites and anything else nearby, they were all there...and I killed them."

The Doctor was at a loss, "You...killed them, how?"

"I absorbed them, what are we all but atoms? Their matter was ripped apart from the force of my matter, something made me different, most likely I had gotten some residue from the crack thus making my attracting force stronger than the void's. The life became nothing but information, information that I absorbed into myself. I didn't mean to in the darkness, I just wanted to go home. No, not even that, I just wanted it to end. I wanted the horror to stop.

"It did the moment I left the darkness by some miracle. I was eventually taken into the hospital, forced into a comatose state by my own mind that was trying to cope with all I knew. I was either trying to expel it or download it during that period-"

"What do you mean by 'expel or download,' Penelope?" He asked sharply.

"I wasn't aware of it most of the time, but I've been told that I mumbled a lot, nonsense mostly."

"What kind of nonsense?" The Doctor had a suspicion to what it might been from what he had been told by Dogers, Penelope's psychiatrist.

"Complex mathematical formulas and theorems, advanced theories about higher metaphysics, rules of Cosmic Science, xenobiology, the theories behind the schematics of weapons and defense technology, basic theory of Time Rings and their blueprints, the laws and theories of stellar manipulation-"

The Doctor interrupted her, properly intimidated by the small human girl in front of him, "You know what that is?"

"It's there and comes if called upon, like now. Normally, I don't remember consciously, sometimes I'll get visions or ideas. I write them down or drawn them...and then I forget. I can't access them purposely by myself, but sometimes I do by accident."

"How are you able to know this right now? How are you aware of this?" The Doctor was suspicious and wary of the possible threat in front of him.

"I don't, not normally. This is the older me, the me from before, my subconscious self that is usually buried under the conscious mind and the new me that developed to maintain my soundness of mind." The Time Lord was not surprised by this answer. A spilt-personality often happened as a result from traumatic experiences to protect oneself. It would also explain her blackout and memory loss, she must have switched to this personality before him…This personality that just freely confessed to knowing a great deal of information.

"You said you couldn't access them, the memories and information, by yourself, could others?" The Doctor mostly meant himself, but there was the deeply worrying concern that others could access such a dangerous wealth of information.

"They could if they have hypnotic or telepathic capabilities. Through hypnosis, they could simply prompt me for the information or they could telepathically go inside my mind to access it."

"Just like a memory stick," he realized. "You're like a USB drive." When she confirmed it, the Doctor felt a rush of both apprehension and giddiness. "I could access it right now?"

"You could," Penelope said simply, not expanding her answer.

He frowned at her phrasing. "Would it harm Penelope, er, you, in any way?"

"Depends on how rough or gentle the retrieval is, you are in my mind after all…"

"...I'll leave it for now, until I can be sure that she won't suffer from my curiosity." He didn't want to hear that little girl crying out in fear or pain in his mind again, or at all, if he could help it. It reminded him too much of the voices of the children lost on Gallifrey, those 2.47 billion children. He swallowed guilty before giving himself a mental shake, gently pulling away from Penelope's subconscious.

The young girl in front of him blinked in a slow and dazed fashion, waking up from the trance state much like one would wake from a dream. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, a puzzled look crossing her face. "Wh-What did you w-want to ask me, D-Doctor?"

The Doctor thought quickly. There were many other question he had, but none that this particular Penelope could answer. Well, actually this was one that she could, one that he had been meaning to ask her for a long time coming.

"How do you feel," the Doctor asked slowly. "…about joining Donna and I on an adventure?"

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**

* * *

**_Explanations:_**

*** **Yes, Penny has been put in solitary confinement for the first few months, as she was extremely distressed and inconsolable. She had been sedated and put in a strait jacket to prevent harm from coming to herself or others. Dr. Pierce, however, was liable to be overzealous in her job and may have sent Penny there more times than was necessary.

*** **For the Doctor's phone number, I use the same one provided in the episode "Journey's End."

*** **Any guesses on who the better driver is? I'll give you a hint, she's a companion.

*** **Yes, I would seriously accuse him of stealing the idea from Mary Poppins, especially since I've know Mary Poppins longer than I've known Doctor Who.

*** **Stuttering is a real issue I suffer from. My mind starts going too fast and my mouth can't keep up, often leaving me unable to say what I want to say. I'll get "blocks" in my speech or repetitions. Penny's stutter is an exaggerated version of mine, one that was made worse by her situation. Mine's brought on my nervousness and anxiety or being highly emotional or excited. Hers is now mostly an anxiety wrought stutter. She'll eventually become a more confident character and will stutter less (at least, that's my goal), but until then, she'll go into lapses of silence. She can talk, she just doesn't want to, because she's unsure of herself and everything around her.

*** **So, Penny apparently has another personality, the older Penny long buried by the hospital, which has been reawakened in Penny's desperation to see the outside world. You won't see much of "Old Penny" but she'll be there, hiding behind the scenes. Appearing often in dreams or visions.

_**Advertisements (Warning: Spoilers!):**_

**TITLE:** Afterimage

**AUTHOR:** Fan Fictional Authoress

**ID:** 10488757

**SUMMARY:** Sara thought she had finally escaped from the Time Lord Victorious, only to find herself in an alternate dimension with another survivor of her universe and another Doctor! Follow Sara and Penny as they try to escape and find their own way home. An AU crossover of Emptyvoices's "Lost in Time" and Fan Fictional Authoress's "Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust, and Man-eating Trees."

**OPINION:** Okay, this is a crossover between this story and Emptyvoice's "Lost in Time." **_WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR THIS STORY!_** Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. If you don't care about the spoilers, be my guest and read the awesomeness. If you hate spoilers and don't want certain plot points to be revealed, don't read it. Simple as that. :)

**_Thought Processes:_**

So, it finally begins, Penny's travels with the Doctor and Donna, the moment all of you have been waiting for! Just for point of reference, the episode that we'll start on is 'The Sontaran Stratagem.' It'll be different from want you expect though, for one thing Penny won't be following the Doctor around all the time. And for another, I am most certainly NOT copying down the script WORD FOR WORD.

I hate it when other writers do it, so I'm going to try to avoid that, savvy?

I'm try to put up three more chapters before college starts, because after that I won't have time to work on any of my stories. I'm be a full-time student with a part-time job on top of that. I understand that some of you are both that and more, but I have lower energy levels and not-so-great time management skills. After August 25, updates will be spotty at best and non-existent at worst.

Just a heads up.

Happy Saturday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Submitted: Saturday, July 26, 2014._


	7. And I Wondered If I Would End Up Burned

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

* * *

The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and had stepped out, walking away and out of sight. I didn't follow him out, having been explicitly told to stay off of my feet for the next hour as the dermal repair cream worked its magic on my feet. But that was only an excuse, I was, well, afraid to join him outside. The TARDIS had changed positions, the outside I remember was not the same outside as where the TARDIS was located right now. I was a little freaked out by the idea to be honest.

He promised I would get first dibs on the next adventure as soon as he went and got Donna. I had thought about it for maybe half a second before I told him, "Dinosaurs."

"What?" He asked, startled by my practically instantaneous answer.

"_Dinosaurs_," I repeated, stressing out the word.

"…What?" He repeated eventually after a long pause, probably unable to think of a suitable reply.

"I want to see dinosaurs," I told him.

"Right then," he sniffed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before grinning toothily. "Unexpected, but a brilliant idea. Haven't seen any in ages."

Then he piloted the TARDIS so it was across the street from Donna's house and went out to go get her. He was gone for, maybe, a few minutes before he returned with Donna in tow. "-my luck that no one's even home! My guess was that Gramps is out with his mates and Mum is out with Veena again. Doesn't matter though, had some nice beans on toast-Don't you give me that look, Space-man! I'm entitled to eat unhealthy comfort food once in a while."

"Never said you weren't," came his dry reply. "Knew someone who ate chips all the time, grew to like them myself."

"You should eat more then," Donna retorted. "You're too skinny. Put a sheet of paper to shame, you would."

"Would not!" The Doctor sputtered as the entered the TARDIS

"Completely transparent, like glass."

"I am _not_ that skinny."

"Are too!" Donna turned to me, suddenly bringing me into the conversation. "Tell 'im, Penny!"

I quailed under the weight of their stare, just managing to squeak out. "Th-The Doctor's f-fine." He grinned triumphantly. "But-but maybe a-another p-pound wouldn't g-go amiss?" He deflated while Donna smirked.

"Told you, Space-man."

"Penelope," the Doctor whined. "I thought you were on my side."

"I-I'm sorry?" I offered.

"Don't be," Donna told me. "He's just being a baby."

"Am not!" Came the petulant rebuff.

"See, what did I tell you?"

"Oh, that is just unfair," the Doctor grumbled. "The two of you, ganging up on me." He started on the dematerialization sequence while Donna looked on with interest.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" She asked suddenly and he looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you hated technical stuff and anything to do with technology," the Doctor mock-accused her.

"Oh, I do, but I still use it, just don't like to deal with the know-how and jargon you spout off constantly. Couldn't understand all of that to save my life. Show me how and I'll do it just fine. Bet any bloke with half a brain could pilot the TARDIS with you as a teacher."

He looked at her with a baffled expression. "Somehow you gave both an insult and a compliment at the same time. Alright, fine. If you can learn how to fly a TARDIS, anybody can."

"Oh, thanks, Space-man," Donna sneered.

"Oi, if you can dish it, you can take it!"

And on the two of them went. The Doctor pointed out the main controls and their names, he tested her a few times until she had the names down pat. Then he spent a good chunk of time showing her the sequence of controls used to dematerialize. Again, he tested her, and once he was reasonably sure that Donna had a general idea of what she was doing, he had her try it herself.

With a few hesitant flicks of switches and presses of buttons, the metallic wheezing sound of the TARDIS that faintly reminded me of a train and a factory machine could be heard. "It's working, it's really working! I-I can't believe it," Donna stammered, thrilled.

"Me neither," the Doctor said, looking wary as if he was expecting something to blow up any second. I was vaguely reminded of my grandma the first time I took her out for a practice drive after I had gotten my permit. He hovered like she did too, exclaiming, "Careful, _careful!_" He hurriedly reached around Donna, flicking a switch and taking a mallet out from nowhere, using it on the console. He backed away slinging the mallet over his shoulder, bracing as he read the symbols on the monitor. He urged Donna, "Left hand, use your left hand!"

Donna hesitantly started pulling down on the lever, looking uncertain. The TARDIS gave a violent shudder and the Doctor pulled, her right hand away from the console, stumbling backwards before regaining his balance. "Eugh…bit too close to the 80s for my comfort."

"What, afraid we're going to put a dent in them like I did with Nerys's car?"

"Well someone did! I mean, really, shoulder pads? Besides which, they had some rubbish music and…" The Doctor trailed off as a cellphone started ringing. Both of them were at a loss as it continued to ring.

"Hold on, is that…is that a _phone?_" Donna asked the Doctor, flabbergasted as he made his way around the console and picked it up, looking at it as if it might bite him. "A _mobile_? Since when do you have a mobile? Since when do people give you a ring or you hand out phone numbers to everyone now?"

"Since never, 's not mine," he muttered, looking at it warily a bit longer before slowly sinking onto the jump seat next to me, answering the phone. "Hello?"

There was a pause.

"When and where?"

Another pause, this one longer.

"Right, be there in a mo." The Doctor snapped the phone shut and stood up. "Right then! I'll be taking over the controls, Donna, looks like we've been summoned." The Doctor sent me a regretful look. "Maybe next time then, Penelope?"

I nodded, knowing that a chance of seeing the ancient creatures that long resided either underground or in museums would be a long time coming. I carefully unwrapped my feet, examining them. The cream had been completely absorbed into the soles of my feet, and the wounds and blisters had been healed. I bent over, reaching under the jump seat to put on my socks and stuff on a good pair of running shoes, both of which the Doctor had stashed there for me.

By the time I finished lacing up the last shoe, the Doctor had landed. I was wondering what to do with the gauze when he pulled me onto my feet, telling me, "Worry about that later. For now, just set it there." He then made his way over to the door and exited. I had followed him part way before hesitantly stopping, uneasy.

I knew what awaited us out there, and it wasn't just Martha.

I jumped slightly when a hand landed on my shoulder and I looked up to see Donna with a look of understanding on her face. "Oh, Sweetheart, I know how you feel. My first time was like that too, but let me tell you-" Here she grinned. "-going out there is going to be the best experience ever, a new place and new adventure, no matter where and no matter when. Why don't we go out together, yeah?"

I nodded and shyly took her proffered hand. "Yeah…"

We made our way out together where we heard voices.

"…recovering."

"And yourself?"

There was a pause and as I peeked out from behind Donna who had frozen, I could see that Martha had noticed us, her face unreadable. "Right," she said. "So, I guess this is your family. Didn't take you long to replace me, then?"

"Wh-What?" Both Donna and the Doctor sputtered. "No, not married."

"Not now, not ever," Donna dismissed further.

"Martha, this is Donna _Noble_ and Penelope _Carter_," the Doctor introduced us, making sure to emphasize our last names. "Now please, please don't start a fight. I didn't like it last time something like this happened and I won't-"

Donna cut the Doctor off with a scoff, "Oh, you wish, Space-man." She went up to Martha and they shook hands. "Nice to meet you, I'm Donna. I've heard so much about you."

"Only good things, I expect?" Martha joked.

"Oh no, nothing bad, promise. Just…good things."

"In other words, he told you everything, right," Martha muttered, brushing her hair away from her face.

"Oh, but didn't take long to move on! Who's the lucky man?" Donna squealed.

"Wait, what?" The Doctor asked surprised. "Lucky, what?"

"She's engaged, you prat," Donna informed him, rolling her eyes.

"His name's Tom Milligan, works in pediatrics. Currently he's in Africa, working with the kids there, and, yes…" Martha sighed. "I know, I know, I'm engaged with a doctor who runs off to distant places."

"Is he, is he skinny?" Donna asked, biting back laughter as the Doctor groaned.

"Oh, come on!" He whined. "I don't ever get a break with you!"

"Oh, no, he's sort of…strong."

"Good, because _he_ is too skinny for words!" Donna gesture at the Doctor with emphasis. "What, I mean, you give him a hug, he snaps in half!"

"You give him a hug, he shatters."

"Give him a hug, you end up hugging yourself."

"Give him a hug-"

"Quit it! C'mon, stop tag teaming me! 'S not fair, you two!" Donna and Martha struggled to look properly chastised through their giggles, fighting to keep a straight face as the Doctor looked at the two of them in exasperation.

"…G-Give him a hug…" I murmured slowly, not actually having a punchline.

"Oh, forget it!" The Doctor threw up his hands in the air. "I give up. Alright, fine, give me a hug and you get a face full of pole."

"What?" Donna asked, biting her lip to stifle any further laughter.

"Pole! You know, like a bean pole."

"That is weak, Doctor, weak!" Martha exclaimed and both of the women burst out laughing. I started laughing too, despite my best efforts.

The Doctor groaned, "Oh, I'd rather you were fighting."

Sounds of a walkie-talkie, radio chatter could be heard and Martha moved to get something that was clipped to her side. "Speaking of which…" She muttered, pulling out a hand-held radio. In an authoritative voice, she stated clearly, "This is Dr. Jones, operation 'Blue Sky' is go, go, go. I repeat, 'Blue Sky' is a go." She turned around and started to stride out of the alley. I gripped Donna's hand as she and the Doctor followed her out.

I watched in amazement as soldiers and trucks and helicopter came into view, having never seen anything like this in my life before, not in the small town of Underwood. "Cool," I murmured under my breath, looking around with wide eyes. Officials started barking out orders, demanding that a barrier be raised immediately and something be done with the safeties on the guns. A person's voice started listing orders and instructions through the loud speaker, but I couldn't understand it over the rumble of the rather large semi-truck and the smaller-but still loud-rumbles of SUVs.

I stumbled along behind Donna, her grip on my hand the only reason why I was moving and not standing in the middle of the street as I gawked at the scene happening around me. Donna came to a stop and I bumped into her. She didn't say anything to me though, she only turned to the Doctor, murmuring lowly, "So is that what you do? Turn people into soldiers?"

The Doctor didn't answer, only continued to look around at the organized chaos uneasily. The conversation stopped there, but I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't over, that it was, in fact, far from over. Martha eventually rejoined us and the Doctor gestured at her name tag. "You're a proper doctor, now. Officially got the title, I see," he remarked, possibly trying to point out to Donna that it wasn't as bad as she was making it seem, wanting to prove her wrong.

"I've had it for a long time coming, given my experience in the field. UNIT felt it fit to quicken the process," Martha informed him as she started to walk away again, the Doctor falling into step with her and with Donna and me quick on their heels. "We're making this a temporary field base." She sent the Doctor a grin. "They're tripping over themselves to see you."

"Can't quite say the same," the Doctor muttered.

To my confusion, we were heading to the giant semi-truck and stepped inside. It was to my immense surprise that inside the truck was an office. One that I used to think was in one of the buildings by the factory. I looked around in awe, wondering what these people would do if they ever got in a car accident. Maybe the desks and stuff were nailed to the floor?

Martha walked up to an older looking officer and saluted him. He looked vague familiar and I wondered why until Martha said his name. "Colonel Mace, 'Blue Sky' is a success. Thank you for letting me lead it. This is my good friend the Doctor. Doctor, this is Colonel Mace."

The man's eyes practically bugged out and he hurriedly saluted the Doctor with a strangled, "Sir!"

"Oh, don't salute," he muttered, irritated, eyes scanning the room.

"But…but it's an honour, sir." I could almost hear the extra 'U' that was added in the word, he spoke it so sincerely. "I've read your files. You're still listen on staff, you've never resigned! In all technicalities, you're my superior."

"I'm nobody's 'superior,'" the Doctor dismissed. "And stop calling me 'sir,' it makes me feel my age."

"You used to have a job?" Donna asked in surprise. "You, the wandering nomad who can't sit still long enough to play a proper board game?"

"No one has time for Monopoly," the Doctor protested. "It takes too long, too tedious. I'll have you know that I've had jobs before, maybe they've only been for a short amount of time-and when I say short, I mean really,_ really_ short-but I have held them before…This just happens to be one I haven't quit yet. Put too much stock into it, I mean, I was a part of it when it was more of a private organization for the…70s, I believe? Really small and humble back then."

"However, time have changed, Sir. We had to adapt," Colonel Mace informed him.

The Doctor let out a frustrated sigh, "What did I tell you about the 'sir' business? Quit it."

"Oh, come on now, Doctor," Martha exclaimed, turning away to move around the counter with us leisurely following close behind. "You've seen it, you were on the Valiant too! We've got massive funding to be the Earth's defense from the United Nations. We're the over protective big brother of Homeland Security, Home_world_ Security."

"We've upgraded the organization to keep up with the modern world," Colonel Mace drawled.

The Doctor winced. "Don't use the word 'upgrade,' brings too many bad memories of robots and…" He paused. "Never mind."

Donna rolled her eyes before saying, "So, I guess this means you think that you get the right to go around arresting a whole factory in broad daylight, then? I'm distinctly reminded of Guantanamo Bay, here. Donna Noble and Penny Carter, at your service." She leaned forward a bit adding a sassy, "_'Cause you didn't ask_." Straightening, she turned to me remarking, "Rude! We'll have that salute, yeah?"

The Colonel looked at the both of us, baffled. I adverted my eyes, trying to sink into the background, hoping to become as noticeable as a potted plant or boring wallpaper. He turned to the Doctor who gave him a look, and then turned to us, visibly straightening and snapping a crisp salute. "Ma'am, miss."

"Thanks," Donna said breathily, turning forward. I had a feeling that she'd never been saluted before and was savoring the experience. Personally, I was hoping to crawl into a hole and hide for the next couple of days. For a want of having something better to do, I blankly looked forward at the TV screens in front of us, my mind wandering. Not that what was occurring around me wasn't serious or interesting, but, well, truth was my mind was focused on more pressing matters.

Like the potato-men who were going to covert the Earth into a clone planet with a poisonous gas that turned people into potato-people.

I bit my lip and worried it for a bit, a pensive expression on my face. I was really no good with fighting. If worse came to worst, I could _maybe_ punch a potato-man, but he'd probably vaporize me first. I was effectively useless.

I continued to fret about the whole issue as Donna led me into the factory along with everyone else. I looked around, wondering if we were being watched right now by Mr. Potato Head's extended family. I shuddered at the idea, looking down at the floor, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. '_C'mon, channel your inner-wallflower, Penny,_' I mentally urged myself. '_You're just another hairless, pink weasel, no one special. Nothing to see here, folks_.'

I looked down at the factory below as the people were put into neat little lines by the UNIT soldiers. Those people…they were clones, weren't they? They were clones made by the potato-men, soldier-puppets that did only what they were supposed to, to the letter and nothing more. They were the biggest clue that something was afoot here, I needed to prove that there was something wrong with the workers, but how?

I was tugged along deeper into the bowels of the factory and I looked around uneasily. I wanted to leave this place, before I got stuffed into a tank with green liquid or suffocated from the clone feed. Donna let go of my hand and I stayed by the entrance to the room, watching as the clone people were led away. They looked human, but they were so quiet, not one of them was protesting or whispering or crying or yelling or…anything. They didn't even shuffle in place.

'_Unnatural_,' I thought to myself with a shiver. '_How can no one else see or, if they do, how can they not say anything_?' Martha moved past me with a guard and with a flash, I saw her being knocked unconscious, the trial of the Martha-clone, the sadness and pity I felt when watching that episode. Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed the back of her jacket.

She stopped walking and turned around to face me. "I'm sorry, Penny, was it?" I nodded nervously, my eyes not leaving the clone-people outside of the room. "Hey," she said, voice softening, bending down slightly. "Hey, it's alright. What are you scared of?"

I looked at her then and whispered quietly, "The people here, they're not right."

She frowned, glancing at the clone-people before looking at me. "How d'you mean?"

"Wa-Watch them," I urged. "Listen t-to them. They d-don't do anything, d-don't say anything, only wh-what their t-told."

Her face became a cautious mask, "They surrendered, they're being cooperative."

"Not right," I repeated. "They're not right, M-Martha. They're….They're like robots." I moved to say more but the soldier next to Martha cut me off.

"Then it is good that Dr. Jones is giving them a check-up," he said flatly. "She can see for herself that they are completely human." I bit my lip and fell silent, looking pleadingly at Martha. She looked more alert and wary, that was probably the best I could hope for.

She put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing." She didn't sound convinced by her own words but the fact she made the gesture was touching.

I offered her a small smile, warning her, "Be-Be careful." Martha nodded solemnly as she left the room with the soldier. I wondered if he was a clone too. It had been a while since I had watched the episode, a few of the details were blurry. I cautiously poked my head through the see-through plastic blinds, wondering if I would fare better at finding any clues. I watched as Martha and the soldier disappeared around the corridor. I might be useless, but Martha most certainly wasn't.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I yelped, whirling around. Donna was looking at me with a worried expression on her face. "What's the matter, Sweetheart? You're a bit jumpy."

I bit my lip and picked at my hands. "I think, I think there's something wr-wrong with the p-people, they're not right."

She frowned. "Like how?"

"They're like robots. They only d-do what their t-told, nothing else, unnatural," I mumbled.

"So you think it's not the factory, it's the people?" She asked me, surprised.

"Sort of."

Donna smiled. "Funny how the two of us think alike. I was going to go check the file rooms on a hunch. Want to join me?" Shyly, I took her hand and let her lead me through the factory.

Maybe I wouldn't be so useless after all.

* * *

On TV, Donna made it seem so easy finding the proper binder, bragged about it even, but in real life, it was much, much harder. She didn't know what exactly she was looking for and I had no idea where to look in the first place. The files weren't sorted in any semblance of order, at least, not one that I knew of. Donna seemed to understand it but she was looking for anything that might've been of use, not looking for things about the workers particularly.

"D-Donna?" I asked.

"Yeah?" She responded distractedly.

"Wh-Where would I find rec-records and-and stuff?"

A frown developed on her face. "Well, you've got to be specific. Which type of records?"

"Um, any-anything on the w-workers. Like…like things about, um, of-offenses, things about the workers, or-or something."

"Well, 'offenses' would be in private records with each individual worker. They would be stored in the same place as the main file of each worker. I think that the interesting stuff might be in these cabinets next to the secretarial desk. Why don't you check in those over there?" Donna gestured to the cabinets behind her as she continued to dig. I realized then, that if I waited a bit longer, Donna would find the files by herself like it was _supposed_ to happen. But those private records…

I had a feeling that they would have more conclusive evidence than just the sick day binder.

I wandered away from Donna, who noticed but didn't say anything. I went to the door that said 'file room' on the glass and went inside. There were file cabinets upon file cabinets, hundreds of them at least to contain all the files of the workers at the Atmos factory. I opened up the nearest one to me with an ease that gave me no small amount of disquiet. These records were supposed to be private, yeah? Then why wasn't this room locked more securely?

Quickly, feeling a sense of urgency in the task, I took out the first few files and leafed through them, a frown starting to develop over what I read. I set the files on top of the cabinet I opened and ran to another cabinet, opening it, and randomly checking some of the files contained within it. "N-No, this can't be right," I murmured to myself before running farther down the row of cabinets. I cracked opened another one, then another one, and yet another one. In all the files I read, each and every one of them had the same thing.

If this wasn't proof that something was fishy, I didn't know what would.

I carefully shut the cabinet and grabbed the files off the top before doing the same to the rest of the files and cabinets that I disturbed. Balancing the thirty-one files in my arms, I exited the file room and managed to shut the door behind me. Donna had moved on to the next section of cabinets and she was onto the cabinet that she gestured to me earlier. I patiently waited as she went through before she let out a triumphant cry.

"You were right, Penny. This isn't right at all, they have no sick days what-so-ever, the binder's completely empty! And, I'll bet, that the vacation binder is the same."

"You betcha," I told her.

"Aha!" She yanked out another, smaller binder that was just as empty as the first. "Well, that doesn't look right, now does it?" I shook my head as she turned to me. "Now then, what did you find in the personal files that you were so interested about earlier?"

I gave them to her and she flipped through, her eyes widening in shock. "It's even worse than I thought, Penny. We need to show the Doctor this. Good thinking about the personal records. C'mon." She handed me back the files and pick up the binders. I smiled, maybe things would be okay and would go downhill for the potato-men faster. Maybe we could save the world and people wouldn't have to die.

* * *

"Oi, you lot!" Donna exclaimed as she strode back into the room where we had left the Doctor originally. "You're all rubbish, needing storm troopers and sonics to do searching, when all you needed was me and Penny all along. We got all the proof you need that something's fishy here."

"Oh?" The Doctor asked, looking at the two of us and the binders and files we held curiously. "And where have the two of you been?"

"Personnel, 'cause that's were all the evidence is. Ever heard of 'paper trails?'" She asked rhetorically as she held the binders by one end and let them fall open, displaying their emptiness. "The first and most suspicious thing you can find in an office are missing files."

"So, what's inside it or, rather, what's no longer inside it?" The Doctor asked, frowning at the empty binders.

"Try never were there, Doctor," Donna corrected. "Sick days and vacation. Not one person here has gotten sick or cashed in their accrued vacation time. I don't know about you, but that sounds suspicious, don't it?"

"Then what are in those files behind you then?" Colonel Mace asked apprehensively.

The Doctor turned to him in surprise. "Brilliant question." He turned back to Donna and I, looking at me. "What the man said, Penelope. What's in those file you got there?" Wordlessly, I handed him the files and the Doctor gently took them, eyes flickering between me and the files. He started flipping through and comparing them to one another before sorting them out into ten separate piles.

"They're the same," he muttered. "There appears to be ten physical templates, five for men and five for women. There two scripts, one for men and another for women. The script for the men is almost exactly the same as the one for women with a few differences, but not much. What you got here, are clones. Mass produced with few differences between them, all for show and have no substance. Now, I might be wrong and we just have nine triplets with one quadruplet, all with similar background stories, but somehow I strongly doubt this is the case."

"That…That can't be right," Colonel Mace stepped forward, checking the files himself.

"There's... there's more," I murmured. "In the, in the file room, hundreds of cabinets."

"You've been so busy checking out the buildings, when you should've checking out the workforce."

"I can see why he likes the two of you," Martha remarked while Donna and the Doctor shared a grin. "You _are_ good."

"Doctor Jones, set up a medical stand and started examining the workers…I'll be sending them through myself," Colonel Mace ordered, striding hurriedly out of the room. The Doctor was quick to jump up and run after him, leaving the rest of us to our own devices.

Martha watched him go for a moment before turning back to Donna and me. "C'mon, you two, give me a hand, will you?" We followed her down the hall to another room, where she started shifting through binders. Donna picked up a chair and set it next to the desk, looking troubled. I stood back near the door, knowing that we would be exiting in a moment.

This is one scene I remember very well, Martha's warning to Donna.

Finally, Donna spoke up, "D'you think I should warn her, my mum? She's got Atmos in her car and if it really is dangerous…"

Martha looked up, studying Donna before nodding, murmuring, "Better safe than sorry."

Donna swallowed, "I'll give 'er a ring." She moved to the exit where I quietly waited as Martha moved back to the other door that led back to the factory. "C'mon, Penny."

Martha's voice halted Donna's exit. "Donna." She turned to look her. "Does your family know, that you're traveling with the Doctor, what that means?"

"Not really, not…really. My Granddad sort of…waved us off, but I never had time to properly explain everything. I don't think my mum would understand even if I did, though."

"So, you left them behind?"

"Yeah," Donna answered softly. "Yeah."

Unexpectedly, Martha turned to me. "And what about you, Penny? Does your parents know, have you told them?"

I adverted my eyes, biting my lips. "I…can't, don't have anyone else but-but Donna and the D-Doctor." I pushed up my long sleeve and displayed the hospital-issued bracelet, holding my arms out so she could see it clearly. "I'm…I'm his 're-responsibility' n-now," I mumbled, quoting the Doctor.

"What?" Martha asking looking at me in shock.

Donna stepped in to explain. "She's from another dimension, and knows the future. We…found 'er in a bad spot, at an asylum. Been trying to help ever since, make sure her mind doesn't start burning again. But what about you, Martha?" Donna's voice was quiet, coaxing, "Did you tell your family?"

Martha looked down, closing her eyes briefly before pinning the two of us with her stare. "No, I didn't, kept it all one, big secret and nearly destroyed them with it."

"How d'you mean?" Donna asked, voice still soft.

"They were all imprisoned and…tortured. My mum, dad, and my sister, all of them." Martha raised up her hands in a calming gesture, insisting, "It wasn't the Doctor's fault, promise." She lowered them. "But you…you need to be careful, both of you. You know him, the Doctor's wonderful, brilliant! But… you also need to know before it's too late, that he's like fire… Stand too close and people get burned."

Donna looked at her a bit longer and then nodded. Without another word, she took my hand and pulled me out of the room with her and down the hall. I mutely let her lead me along, disquieted from the warning Martha had given. I just had to wonder:

In all of this, would I end up being the one burned?

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**

* * *

**_Explanations:_**

*** **The dermal repairing cream that Penny's talking about is a made up thing as far as I'm aware. It's the cream that Ianto put on her feet.

*** **Yes, if given the choice, my first request might be to see the dinosaurs...or a world full of flowers...or a planet where there are, literally, castles in the clouds...or a place with silver or gold colored rain. If you think hard about it, two of those requests held references to books.

*** **I actually originally thought the same thing as Penny, that the office that you first see was in another building and not in a semi-truck of all things. A quick recap of the episode showed me otherwise, though, but I mentioned the same thoughts that I had running through my min in passing. "Good Lord, what would they do if there was a car accident?"

*** **Not surprisingly, the Doctor's right about Monopoly, nobody has time to finish that long game, ever. I've never finished it, not even when I'm playing by myself since I can't cheat that when and there's no sense of competition...just the game. It takes hours to finish (or, at least, an hour or so longer than I have time to play). And otherwise, people loose track of everything, get bored, or sick of being a rubbish player. Never been much of a monopoly player, though, prefer Mancala more.

*** **The potato-men that Penny's talking about are the Sontarans. Obviously.

*** **Yes, I realize that the people there weren't cloned, but it didn't make sense that the people there, all of them, would be able to work twenty-four hours a day for, what, days? Weeks? Months? This is not getting into the whole plot hole of people noticing that their loved ones are all missing for that whole period of time. It's not subtle at all. Not that Sontarans are subtle normally, but here they take greater pains to be. So, I'm going to make it that this people are mass-produced clones and aren't as complex as the Martha-clone who needed a live-template for her role to play.

*** **Yes, Penny said, "You betcha." No, I'm not stereo-typing... Minnesotan do say this phrase occasionally. MY grandma certainly does, and I've been known to say a variant of it, "I'll betcha (Insert what I'm betting here)." I've also said, "Oh dear." And other stuff that I don't really realize is all "Minnesotan Accent."

_**Advertisement:**_

**TITLE:** Dear Friend

**AUTHOR:** Tardis-Impala-equals-Delorean

**ID:** 9734153

**SUMMARY:** The Doctor has been receiving a chain of letters from a stranger that goes by the name Willow, and who appears to know him. Willow, as she likes to be called, has been dreaming of the Doctor her whole life, if only he were real. 10th Doctor. Willow is OC, Rated T for language.

**OPINION:** Refreshing. It's a different plot and feel, but it's nice. Don't know if they'll ever meet but it's a good read in the meantime.

**_Thought Process:_**

So, here we are, the story is finally taking off. Took us long enough, but I think the wait was worth it, don't you? Hopefully it's not just me thinking that and the rest of you are screaming, "Finally, after all this time, the trolling is done!"

Not that I was trying to troll you, just taking longer to get from point A to point B.

Now, this is probably going to be the only time I'm going to do this, because I hate it and get annoyed when another authors beg for reviews every chapter, but could you guys boost the signal of this chapter? Maybe it's just me (even though I'm sure you guys do it too), but when you're judging on whether or not to read a fan fiction, you first look at the title, summary, and then the amount of reviews. More reviews, more likely to read the story.

So maybe you can help a friend out?

Chances are, I'll notice and check out your stories too...might even advertise them...

Me? Bribing? Darn tootin' I am.

Yes, I seriously just said that, laugh all you like.

Happy Wednesday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Submitted: Wednesday, August 6, 2014._


	8. I Couldn't Breathe

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

* * *

After some directions from passing soldiers, Donna and I managed to locate the wayward Time Lord. We pushed through the plastic, dangly bits as Colonel Mace walked away from the Doctor at the bottom of the ramp. "Doctor," Donna called, sounding a bit subdued.

"Oh, just in time!" He chirped, a boyish grin on his face as he hopped up the ramp meeting us halfway. Grabbing a hold of Donna's free hand, he started to run back down the ramp, urging, "Come on, come on, we're heading out to the country! Get some fresh air and meet some geniuses, what more could a person ask for? Well, except for dinosaurs." The Doctor sent a cheeky wink in my direction before Donna pulled him to a stop.

"We're not coming with you," Donna told him firmly but gently. "I need to go home, I'm sorry."

"Really?" He asked, almost inaudibly.

"I need to," she affirmed.

"Well, if that's what you really want, I mean, it's so soon. I've wanted to take you to so many places…" The Doctor leaned forward, his voice lowered enticingly, "The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko, the desert planet Shokesh of the Mutter's Spiral, Caligaris Epsilon Six in the seventy-seventh century…" He paused, gauging my and Donna's reactions. All those places sounded so amazing and wonderful, I wondered if Donna would ever see any of them before…before she forgot everything.

Swallowing hard, I looked away, avoiding his searching eyes. I squeezed Donna's hand for reassurance and she gently squeezed back. Reluctantly, the Doctor continued, saying, "…Thank you, Donna, it's been brilliant. You might not realize it, but you've saved my life in so many different ways. You're just…" He trailed off as an idea seemed to occur to him. "You're just popping home to see if your family's alright, aren't you?"

Donna nodded with a smile, whispering, "You Dumbo."

"You're just visiting home and bringing Penelope with you, not staying," Doctor added, realization hitting him like a brick to the face. He rubbed his cheek, probably feeling foolish now that he gave some thought about how she worded everything.

"Yes, you soft, outer-space dunce. You're not getting rid me, might as well get used to it."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm a great, big softy and proud of it."

"Ready when you are, sir," a boy not much older than I was-well, used to be-informed the Doctor.

Donna grinned, "What's more, you can give us a lift. Alphonsey, or whatever it is you say."

"It's '_allons-y_,' Donna. That's French for, 'Let's go!'" The Doctor informed her as he gleefully led us over to the truck. I was a tad short, so I had some trouble reaching the step. Donna leaned down from her seat inside the vehicle and pulled me up to where I could reach it and climb in myself. "Ooh, a bit of a tight squeeze," the Doctor commented as we smushed together.

"Not really," Donna countered. "With Penny being so tiny and you being so skinny, we fit just fine."

The Doctor groaned, "Don't start this up again, not in front of…" The Doctor paused. "What's your name?"

"Ross, sir," the soldier informed him dutifully.

"Right, not in front of Ross. He'll help come up with more witty comments and then where will I be? Vastly outnumbered and with no hope of a retort."

"Oh, I doubt that," Donna scoffed. "I bet you could hold your own just fine if you used that big brain of yours once in a while."

"_Oof_, my heart, mortally wounded with your words, Miss Noble," the Doctor snarked, grasping at the left side of his chest dramatically.

"What a ham, I forgot to laugh," Donna stated flatly.

"It was a bit much, sir," Ross added.

"Oh no, there's goes my other one. Double heart-attack, right there," the Doctor moaned theatrically and I giggled at his ridiculousness. He turned to me and asked mock-seriously, "Was that a laugh I heard?" I shook my head, covering my mouth to hide my ever-growing smile and to stifle more giggles. "Are you sure? 'Cause I'm positive I did and my ears don't lie."

"You are corny, you are," Donna finally laughed.

The Doctor sniffed, attempting to look nonchalant. "I do my best."

The truck came to a stop by a quiet looking street and the Doctor opened the door, hopping out. "This is our stop, Penny," Donna informed me, giving a nudge. The Doctor held out his hand and I used it to jump down safely. He offered another hand to Donna, which she took, but didn't really need, as she slid down without much trouble. "We'll walk the rest of the way. See you safe and sound back at the factory, yeah?" The Doctor climbed back in with a 'bye,' not commenting on anything else. Donna persisted even as the truck started up and was pulling away. "You be careful, you hear me?"

We watched as the truck drove off before starting to walk down, I checked the sign, Rydale Street. I made to ask Donna a question, but seeing the look on her face, I refrained. She seemed to be almost in a dream as she made her way further down the street, as if she could hardly believe she was back. Looking down the street, I was almost reminded of home, how our street was quiet in much the same way.

An elderly woman greeted us, kindly-looking and curious. "Haven't see you in a while, Donna."

"Oh," Donna answered faintly. "I've been away…"

As we continued to walk on, I knew that Donna was not just going down Rydale Street but also Memory Lane, if you'll pardon my pun. My mind flashed back to the episode and I remembered the brief glimpses of memory that Donna had and currently was experiencing at this moment in time. I saw her as she hung from the window-cleaning platform in 'Partners in Crime,' a rock-man-posing-as-a-transformer crying out silently, her trying to save a little boy from the eruption before he was pulled away by his mother, her crying through the bars of the Ood cage, and her watching an Adipose baby floating up to join its family all flicker.

I saw what she saw.

Suddenly, the weight of what she must be feeling hit me. She was home, finally home after all the insanity and despair and excitement and wonder that had occurred. An experience that I would never be able to share, ever. Biting my lip, I stopped walking, allowing my hand to gently slip out of her grasp. Donna continued to walk forward several more feet before she stopped, spotting something. I followed her gaze, turning to look where her head was pointed.

It was Wilfred, her grandfather, taking out the trash.

He glanced in our direction, about to head back inside, when he did a double-take, recognizing Donna. Her hand flew to her mouth and she let out a small sob. Wilfred stood up completely now and began to frantically wave at her, as if trying to flag her down before she zoomed off once more with the Doctor.

At first, Donna tentatively started to pad over to him, but once she realized that he wasn't a mirage and wouldn't fade, she began to run. Wilfred seemed overwhelmed with emotion or, at least, as far as I could tell with my relatively poor distance vision; being near-sighted tended to make things difficult at times. Wilfred spread his arms out wide and Donna returned his action in kind, meeting up with him in an embrace.

Little ice prickles of jealousy and a terrible sadness started to claw and tug, vying for my attention. I swallowed hard as a lump in my throat began to make itself known. Images of a large, bear of a man with a close-clipped black and grey beard appeared within the forefront of my mind. _'And how's Pookie doing today?'_ He'd rumble affectionately, referring to my nickname that was reminiscent of a fat, orange tabby cat's stuffed bear. I could almost feel the huge, tan and calloused hand that stroked my head with a gentleness belying its size and gruff appearance. "Grandpa," I murmured grievingly, bowing my head.

"Penny!" Donna called out to me. "Come over here, no need to be shy!" I briefly closed my eyes, steeling myself and trying my very best to get a hold of myself. Reluctantly, I looked up with a faint smile and made my way over to them, trying not to visibly drag my feet. Donna nor Wilfred needed to know how much this was breaking my heart.

* * *

I sullenly stared into my cup of tea. It was sweet, disgustingly so, according to Donna who said that amount of sugar couldn't be healthy for anyone. I shrugged, mumbling about having low blood pressure. Donna didn't appear to be convinced, but she seemed to sense that I was in a sort of a mood and let it go. Besides, it was only four lumps with enough cream to change the color from a dark reflective hue to a light and murky brown. I took a small sip.

I liked coffee better prepared this way.

I had yet to see Donna's mother, as she was outside with the laundry. She didn't seem to know that Donna or I was here yet, and I wondered, briefly, how she would react. I decided that I would find out soon enough and forced myself to listen to the intent conversation being whispered between Donna and Wilfred.

"Yeah, but is it safe, traveling with him? Are you and-and Penny safe?" I was slightly surprised that Wilfred cared enough to include me, I had only known him, personally, for less than ten minutes.

"He's marvelous, Gramps, just… splendid." Donna smiled distantly, her happiness with this life shining through every so clearly. She gave a small laugh, "Best not tell him I said that, though, might get the wrong idea." Wilfred shook his head, all seriousness, but his eyes twinkled, clearly playing along with Donna, amused. "Thing is, I'd trust him with my life. And Penny's here with us now because he saved her from that sham of a life at the hospital."

"Never did explain who she was or any of that," Wilfred gently reminded.

"Well, that's the thing, we don't really know." Donna furrowed her brows. "The Doctor says she knows the future, sort of, calls her a 'precog,' whatever that is."

Wilfred shook his head in wonder. "You can't tell you mother any of this, won't be able to handle it."

"I dunno…it's all sort of massive, innit? Maybe I should try, wouldn't be fair to her otherwise."

"Fair to who, Donna?" An older, feminine voice asked and I looked up to see the subject of the current topic of conversation walk in through the door, carrying a basket of laundry. She appeared to notice me rather quickly. "And who's she? Is this who you've been spending time with these past few days? You didn't tell me you've got a new friend. Hello, dear, I'm Sylvia, Donna's mum."

"I'm-I'm Penny," I murmured, watching, intrigued, as she bustled around.

"Oh, hark at her! So quiet and demure, foreign too. How do the two of you know each other, then, work?" Sylvia asked, looking between both Donna and me curiously.

"Been traveling with some friends…met her on the way," Donna answered vaguely and I nodded my support of her answer when the older woman turned to me for confirmation.

"So I see," she said before slightly changing the subject. "The two of you are going to stay for tea, I'm guessing." Sylvia turned to me. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit ill-prepared, 'cause we don't have much in the way of snacks. Trying to get Dad to stay on the macrobiotic diet…even though he keeps slinkin' off to get treats from that little petrol station a few blocks from here. Don't even try to deny it, I've seen the wrappers stuffed under the seats in the car. Got to be better than that to get past me, know all the tricks. Now then, what were you talking about, fairness?"

During the whole monologue, Donna and Wilfred had been exchanging looks and discreet body signals…I was painfully reminded of my grandpa and I while grandma was off on one of her lectures or tangents, as we tended to do much the same. I blinked away the memories that were threatening to envelop me once more, only to realize that I must've been out of touch with world around me for a few brief moments.

Wilfred was in the kitchen, messing with the stove and putting a tea pot on it while Donna was snipping out coupons. Sylvia had left the room, presumably, to put the laundry away. Dazed and the slightest bit confused, I picked up the extra pair of scissors that had been set within easy reach and began cutting away.

_Snip. Snip. Snip._

Colored pages fell to the floor as I lounged on the couch, cutting out ads that were to be used on a later date. A pile started to form on the floor. It was almost relaxing, doing this, putting me into a sort of half-trance. I liked doing thoughtless and menial tasks, like sweeping the floors, gardening, cooking or baking food, sewing, signing papers, things that only require muscle memory and left your mind free to wander. "What are you thinking about?"

I looked up into blue-grey eyes and a face that could only be in her late thirties. "Nothin' much," I murmured. "Just…thinkin' 'bout stuff."

"Your accent's showing," she joked and I smiled, going back to cutting out the squares and rectangles of paper with her in a companionable silence.

_Snip. Snip. Snip._

"Penny…Penny! Are you alright?" I looked up to see concerned and very familiar set of blue-grey eyes and a face in her late thirties. They were not the same, though, she was not blonde. "Penny?" She asked again and I blinked hard, trying to chase away the phantom images of my mother.

"Yes, sorry?" I asked, focusing on her more clearly now, specifically on her red hair, trying to keep myself within the present.

"You just sort of zoned out, I've been tryin' to get you attention for a while now, is everything alright?"

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, just…thinkin' 'bout stuff."

Donna blinked before joking, "Your accent's showing."

I shuddered, this situation too similar, too painful. I stood up, mumbling, "Need some air, 'scuse me." I hurriedly left the room with Donna watching me depart in concern.

* * *

I had been sitting on the front porch, just watching the kid kick his soccer ball around, when I saw the Doctor come up the road with the soldier boy, Ross. I guessed that their car was now useless or, at least, no longer trustworthy enough to use. I gave a small wave as they came closer into view, not leaving my seat, just passively watching as they trotted over. "What are you doing out here?" The Doctor asked with a frown and he came to a stop next to me.

I shrugged, "Just…needed some air to…to think."

He merely looked at me knowingly, not saying anything as he reached over me and ringed the doorbell. I faintly her Donna's footsteps and her voice carry through the door, "Oh, Penny, did you lock yourself outsi- Oh." She cut herself off, seeing the Doctor. She put a hand on her hip. "About time you got back. Did you manage not to blow anything up?"

The Doctor cringed slightly, squeaking out, "No comment!" He turned around immediately, avoiding Donna's incredulous stare as he set about walking to the road, checking out Donna's car where Ross was hanging about, on guard. Changing the subject, he continued, "You would not believe the day I've been having, or the one Ross has been having either! Had a fair walk to get back here from Rattigan Academy after Atmos tried to off us. We have an alien invasion on our hands, curtesy of the Sontaran Empire."

He opened the car door and bent inside it. It was hard to see what he was doing exactly, but whatever it was, it was only for a moment. He got out and crouched down, checking the underside of the car while Donna, Ross, and I looked on. Donna whipped out her phone, calling Martha to see if anything was happening on her end. The Doctor suddenly stood up and opened the hood, putting up the stand to hold it up before squatting down slightly, eyes scanning the car in front of him.

"I'll acquire us a vehicle," Ross finally said, probably feeling as useless as I was and was going to go do something about it.

"As long as it doesn't have Atmos and you didn't threaten people with your gun, you're not a thug!" The Doctor told him seriously. Ross gave a nod as he ran off and Donna continued calling while the Doctor went about doing…whatever it was he was doing. I continued to watch, my view slightly obscured by the hedges when the door opened behind me once again.

Wilfred hurried out, shouting excitedly, "Is it him? Is it really him, this Doctor?" He came to a stop by Donna and oggled at the Doctor in shock before pointing at him, almost accusingly. "It's _you_!"

Deciding that it would be better to remain out of the way of the door and making sure nothing went down, I went over to stand next to the three of them, as the Doctor uttered in a gruff voice, "Who?" He straightened and turned to Wilfred, his face the picture of surprise. His voice suddenly went high, sounding almost feminine, as he recognized the elderly man in front of him, "_Oh, _it's you!"

They stared at each other in mutual surprise as Donna looked between the two of them, utter baffled. "What, you two know each other?"

"Christmas Eve, I was at my post and he just vanished, right in front of me, in the middle of thin air. Thought I had a momentary leave of my senses, I did."

"And you never said anything?" Donna asked, flummoxed.

"Well, you never said anything either," Wilfred shot back, eyes never leaving the Doctor as he looked at him wonderingly. "Wilf, sir, Wilfred Mott, and I'm guessing you must be one of them aliens."

"Well, yeah," the Doctor admitted, a large grin overtaking his face. "No need to say it so loud, though!" He reached forward, grasping the man's hand, giving it a good shake. "Nice to meet you properly, Wilf, heard a lot about you from your granddaughter."

The look on Wilfred's face was full of awe and wonder, as if he had found a unicorn. "I'm shaking an alien hand, a genuine alien hand." The Doctor looked a bit awkward at that remark, looking somewhere between flattered and slight embarrassed from the almost reverent reaction he was getting.

He instead turned to Donna, asking seriously, "Any word from Martha?

"Nothing. So it's this Sonar-tarans?"

"Sontarans," the Doctor absentmindedly corrected. "But there's got to be more to it, they can't be just remote controlling cars and creating clones to create the system. That's not enough and there isn't a reason for it. Just what is their motive?"

'_To make a clone world and turn everyone into potato-people_,' I thought quietly to myself, knowing that the question was probably rhetorical.

The Doctor continued, turning to face Donna anxiously as he asked, "Is anyone answering?"

"Just hold on, trying again," Donna murmured as she held up a finger, frowning intently as she listen to the phone ringing. Then her face lit up with relief. "Martha!" She exclaimed. "Hold on, he's right here." Hurriedly, she handed off the phone to the Doctor who already had his hand out and waiting. He whirled away from us and strode off a few paces, speaking intently into the phone. I bit my lip as I craned my head to look at him properly, wondering if he had caught on yet, if he realized that there was something wrong.

I didn't dare dream to hope that my warning had been enough and that Martha hadn't been kidnapped.

When he turned around with a scowl on his face, my heart sank and a feeling of absolute horror crept up on me with his next words. "Apparently, there's been an uprising at the factory, the clones tried to stage a coup. Martha says it's under control now, but there's the thought. We must be getting close, the Sontarans are trying to distract us, want us to back off…but from what? Think, think, _think_!" The Doctor growled to himself before quickly turning back around to face the car and storm towards it.

He whipped out his spectacles and placed on his face before sonicking the car, searching for answers. He began to fiddle with the car engine and Donna approached him, clearly concerned with the news she had just heard. "Doctor, shouldn't we be trying to help them, UNIT? You didn't find any answers here before when you sonicked it."

"I trust Martha. If she's says it's covered, it's covered. Besides of which, now that I know whom I'm dealing with, I know what to look for," the Doctor muttered distantly as he moved to a different part of the engine and messed around with it. Briefly, I was concerned that he might wreck the vehicle irreparably before I remember that he used to own one, himself, called 'Bessie.' Surely, he would be able to put it back together again if he broke it somehow?

One could only hope.

Wilfred walked over to where Donna and the Doctor were standing and got straight to the point. "The thing is, Doctor, Donna is my only grandchild. You got to promise me you're going to take care of her." I fleetingly thought of Jackie and how she asked much the same for Rose, only more Jackie-Tyler-esque, with the underlying threat of ripping him a new one with the distinct possibility of maiming if the Doctor failed to comply. Not that he would.

Fail, I mean, he wouldn't fail. He'd always try, he's the Doctor, the good guy, the_ hero_ for cripes' sake.

"Whoa!" The Doctor's sudden shout made me just about jump out of my skin, heart jack-hammering in my chest. "I knew it! I just knew there was something fishy. I could just smell it, like a fish monger from the fish market. Now I know just what type of fish I was smelling, eau de poche temporelle."

"And what's that when it's at home?" Donna asked, leaning closer to study the sharp looking spikes that had just appeared.

"A temporal pocket is an area or section of space that has its point of relative index offset from real time and continues from that point. It became invisible and intangible unless you're clever like me and change the relative velocity of the-"

Donna looked very thankful when her mother came around the hedges, exclaiming, "Men and their cars! Sometimes I wonder if I was car that…" Sylvia paused, having just noticed a certain Time Lord who was tinkering with her car. Her expression instantly soured. "Don't I know you? Doctor…What was it?"

"That's me," came the careless reply with a half-hearted wave. Her expression seemed to pucker even more, as if she just sucked on the sour candy, Warheads.

"You know each other then?" Wilfred asked before exchanging a bemused look with Donna. An unheard message seem to pass between the two of them, as if to say, 'now who else will end up revealing that they somehow know the Doctor?'

"Dad! It's that man from the wedding, the one when you were laid up with the Spanish flu! The last time that man turned up, there was chaos, mark my words, he is bad luck."

"Hello? I'm right here," the Doctor called out irritably, but hardly surprised by Sylvia's dislike of him...In fact, he seemed almost resigned to it. Sylvia made as if to scold or smack him, one of the two, but considering the Doctor's track record, it might've been the latter. So maybe, it was a good thing when the spikey part of the Atmos-thingamabobber starting smoking and hissing, releasing the gaseous clone feed. "Oh, get back, get back!" The Doctor ordered, pushing us back and placing himself between us and the car. I covered my face to try to filter the thick gas coming off of it, a gas that was making it extremely difficult for me to breathe.

"Oh, _marvelous_," Sylvia spat sarcastically. "He blew up the car. What sort of a man goes around blowing up cars, what sort of a doctor? Nothing but trouble, what did I tell you?" The Doctor ignored her word, instead moving forward to inspect the car's engine the moment the gas stopped hissing, waving away any wayward smoke. I continued to keep my distance, not liking the strained effort it took to breathe, as if I had sprinted for longer than I should have. I wasn't wheezing yet, but I didn't want to push my luck.

"Not now, Mum!" Donna groaned, completely exasperated.

Sylvia was fed up and just done with it all. "Fine, I'll make an appointment with you next time." Sylvia stalked off and for a moment a flash of fear went through me. She didn't sound that upset in the show, what if she went inside the house before she saw Wilfred stuck in the car? What if she was too slow to come back the sledgehammer? What if Wilfred died? I scrambled after, hoping to delay her just long enough that she witnessed everything…

"M-Mrs. Noble," I gasped. "Wa-Wait, I'm-I'm sure Donna didn't m-mean to sound so surly."

Sylvia turned around on me and I skidded to a stop, just barely managing not to run into her. "Look, Dear, I'm sure you heart is in the right place, but, frankly, it's none of your business," she snapped. I shrank in on myself, suitably chastised and she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Sorry," she apologized. "I'm just worried about her. I let it go earlier, but I know that she and Dad were talking about it. I usually just leave them to their own devices, let them have their fun once in a while, but I make sure to keep a firm hand, someone has to. And this Doctor…"

She shook her head, looking worn and harried. "Trouble dogs his steps like a shadow, all that commotion and chaos at the wedding... I just don't want her to get hurt." Raised voices and a car honking could be heard. We both turned around to see Donna banging against the car window with Wilfred trapped inside! "What's he doing? What's he doing?!" Sylvia demanded, sounding panicked. She moved as if to walk towards the car, but I knew that wasn't any time to waste.

"He's stuck inside, can't get out!"

She looked at a loss, hopelessly and frantically looking around before an idea seemed to occur to her. Without another word, she ran into the house with me close behind. She ran out into the garden where a small shed and kept, disappearing inside. I hopped from foot to foot, anxious for her to reappear, running back to the car only when I saw the sledgehammer in her hands.

I ran to the front and held open the door for her as she hurriedly strode past me, careful not to drop the large hammer or fall. I zipped past her and back to the car, stepping over the Doctor and knocking down the stand holding up the car hood with trembling hands filled with nervous energy. I dashed out of the way, starting to cough harshly as Sylvia reared back and slammed the sledgehammer against the windshield, instantly shattering it. Donna stared at her, stunned, but the older woman was having none of it, snapping, "Well, don't just stand there, get him out!"

Quickly, the Doctor scooted out from under the car and held Donna in easing Wilfred from out the windshield. I made to help but was too short to really be of any use. Sylvia handed me the sledgehammer to hold for her as she helped Donna support Wilfred, the Doctor hovering close behind. I limply held the hammer in one hand and used the other to trying to muffle my coughs. I noticed to my alarm that I was wheezing, not a good sign.

"Penny, Donna, come on!" The Doctor called, hopping inside the car that just pulled up. Knowing that I couldn't stay here for much longer, lest I risk a slow death by suffocation, I clambered inside, doing my hardest to breathe quietly and not cough. Something that was not easy to accomplish, as my cough were trying to force their way out of my mouth and my wheezing with still faintly audible to me. I was thankful when Donna bustled in and slammed the door.

I felt dizzy and light-headed, losing the battle to remain silent and appearing mostly well. I let myself cough a few times, trying hard to not draw attention. Thing was, whenever you try to be quiet at something, it's when it's the loudest. "Alright?" Donna asked.

I nodded, mumbling an excuse about swallowing my spit wrong, avoiding Donna and the Doctor's knowing looks that they exchanged. The car seemed shorted than last time, but maybe that was because I was preoccupied with my own thoughts. By the time we got out of the car, Donna was coughing and I was hacking and wheezing…possibly sounding like I was on my last leg.

"This air is disgusting," Donna gritted out and the Doctor nodded.

"It's not good for you and definitely not good for Penny. Get inside the TARDIS, both of you- oh!" He fished inside his coat. "I've never given you a key, Donna!" He handed her one with a large grin on his face. "Now, it's official."

She coughed, "Yeah." The Doctor's smile faded. Donna was quick to continue, "Let's get sentimental after we've all choked to death, yeah?"

A look of realized crossed his face. "Yeah." He quickly handed her the key before running off. Donna gripped my hand tightly and I stumbled after her as she guided me away. I felt ill at this point, like I wanted to toss my cookies, but my throat felt like I had swallowed a hamster or a golden snitch. I let out a wet sounding cough.

I hoped I didn't just cough up blood and that was only bile.

My legs trembled and felt weak, barely holding me upright as I leaned against the TARDIS, Donna clumsily unlocking it after a few tries. We both tumbled inside and Donna closed the door behind us. My legs gave out underneath me and she had to lean against the railing, both of us sounded worse for wear. Actually, I probably sounded like one of those smokers from the '_Left 4 Dead_' game. I shuddered and lay down, hoping the world would stop spinning and the grate felt oh so cool against my flushed skin…

* * *

"Come on, up you get," Donna murmured, no longer coughing with her breathing under control. How long had I been out of it? My coughing had subsided and my wheezing wasn't so harsh, just a faint undertone to each breath I took. I meekly let her lead me to the jump seat and sat down there, numbly letting her fuss over me.

How long had it been since I last had an asthma attack that severe?

Not since I was a child and had to be hospitalized once or twice a year.

Memories of lying down in the backseat of my grandparents' car, because they were the only ones who cared enough to stay with me the whole time at the hospital and they were the ones who I lived with most of the time, fighting for each breath and sobbing, which just made it harder. I remember being given the steroids on the hour every hour and being unable to stop shaking, hands trembling so bad that it looked fake as my hand waved back and forth in small gestures. The feeling as if I had been sucking helium and being tense and unable to sleep for even a moment…

I couldn't help myself, I started to cry.

Donna seemed surprised and concerned by my reaction, wrapping me up in a hug. I didn't hesitate, returning it two-fold as my sobs started to make me cough wetly again and wheeze some more. She babbled reassurances, hesitantly running her hand through my hair. Her embrace pacified me, somewhere between Grandma's hugs, firm and warm, and Mama's hugs, awkward and soft. The familiar scent of shea butter, calmed me further until my cries died down with only the occasional hiccup and wheeze.

"There we go, it's alright," Donna murmured, still sounding a bit baffled but sympathetic. "I suppose that was a bit much for your first time outside the TARDIS and what a bad reaction you had! The Doctor wasn't mucking about when he said you had asthma. Looks like it's getting better know, though." She gently drew away. "Feeling better?"

I sheepishly nodded, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no need to apologize, my first time was a bit much too."

"Sorry…Er, sorry, erm…oops?" I fumbled, trying to apologize for apologizing again. She laughed briefly and made to say something else when the TARDIS gave a jolt. We looked at each other, me with apprehension and her with worry. She made to go to the door, but I stopped her with a small 'wait.' I grabbed the mallet under the console, nervously twirling it in my hand.

Maybe all those times I played Whack-a-Mole would actually be put to good use.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_**Translations:** _

***** Eau de poche temporelle ~ scent of temporal pocket [Lit. water of temporal pocket] This is brought to you by half a semester of French class and Google translate.

_**Explanations:**_

***** I just added two more locations, but both the desert planet Shokesh of the Mutter's Spiral and Caligaris Epsilon Six in the seventy-seventh century are cannon places in Doctor Who lore...both of them being visited before by the Doctor. More information about these two place can be found on the Tardis Wiki.

***** Pookie is the name of Garfield's teddy bear...Yes, my grandparents call me that.

***** Precog is what the Doctor thinks Penny is. It'll be a term that's starts to pop up a lot.

***** Speaking of Penny's accent (and mine) I realized that there are a lot of apostrophes and what would be defined as the misspelling of words if I wrote it as it sounded. I might do it on occasion when she says it out loud and someone points it out, otherwise, it won't be that evident. I won't do it often, because you already have to deal with her stuttering...Don't want to make her line incomprehensible.

***** Now you're starting to see some deviation from cannon, something that will become much more pronounced in the next chapter.

***** Cripes is a politer slang term for Christ.

***** Warheads are, surprisingly, popular here, and by Warheads, I mean the candy! They're extremely sour and more you pucker up extremely quickly. Think of a lemon only much, _much_ more sour. My least favorite candy next to licorice and Hot Tamales.

***** Hacking is another way to say "coughing severely."

***** If a person is on their last leg, they are usually dying.

***** Yes, the golden snitch is a reference to Harry Potter.

***** Actually, that's fairly common with me. I'm always apologizing. That isn't to say that I'm always in trouble or causing trouble, I just like to make sure there's no hard feelings and don't want to offend anyone.

***** Whack-a-Mole is a popular fairground and arcade game where a person wields a mallet and hits the head of any plastic mole (which actually looks more like a gopher) that sticks its head out of one of the nine holes on the machine. No actual moles or mistaken gophers are harmed in the process...in fact, they usually giggle demonically or exclaim "D'oh" before coming back for round two.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE:** I Am Not Like You

**AUTHOR:** Etimire T

**ID:** 10402169

**SUMMARY:** Matt Smith has just finished filming the first half of season seven in Doctor Who and can't wait to spend some time with his family; however, destiny has other plans. As he's driving home, Matt runs into (literally) a man who looks exactly like him and claims to be the Doctor. I will Loosely follow season 5, but when I say loosely I mean it. Enjoy! Matt Smith stars!

**OPINION:** Let me be honest with you, I almost never read stories where the actor meets the character they portray, because it usually ends up crack-ish and I just go "nope" and exit out of the tab. So the fact I'm making an exception in my advertisements with my usually strict "OC starring in Doctor Who" rule (which is actually just the rule of advertising the same general plot as the story I'm writing) shows just how well written this story is. It's all very original and has deviances in plot that end being surprise. And, this is very important, _**NONE OF THE DIALOG SEEMS FORCED, STILTED, OR UNNATUAL**_. It all flows very smoothly, I cannot emphasize this enough!

_**Thought Processes:**_

Hello, all! This'll probably be the last update for a while with college and since it was only the first week, it hasn't been that busy. However, I know that, that is likely to change and am taking precautions by dialing back on writing until I know for sure I can handle it. I'll update on my next break sometime in September or October, so it might be a long while.

Well, how do you like the (relatively) new editions to Penny's story? I think it looks rather nice, but it's not the only thing that's changed! Check out the first chapter! I rewrote it. Also, the cover for this story has Penny's picture! :D

Things are starting to pick up now and the 'Sontaran Stratagem' has now finished and 'Poison Sky' has now started. This whole adventure will end next chapter and the next one will start!

I, honestly, can't wait to introduce you to "Ashley." *Grins*

Oh, and, before I forget, if you want me to advertise one of you stories, I'll be happy to check them out. (Well, I'll be doing that anyway if they're in my favorites, but I'll probably ask for your permission if you had previously reviewed me or PMed me.) Just leave a note in a review or a PM or favorite/follow this story.

If you already favorited/following this story, chances are I have checked out your profile and just haven't advertised you story yet and might in one of the future chapters.

If you have anymore questions or just want to talk, feel free to contact me.

Happy Friday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

**P.S.: Sorry, guys! I didn't mean to troll you yesterday!**

_Date Submitted: Friday, August 29, 2014._


	9. I Would Never Forget

_**All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.**_

**_Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them._**

* * *

The Doctor was simmering, furious. Captain Price, now Major Price, had taken over command when Colonel Mace had been killed during the revolt of the factory worker clones. She had taken it upon herself to order a strategic retreat of UNIT forces to the Valiant before ordering the destruction of the whole factory.

A factory that now no longer existed.

First, one of his companions, Martha, had been kidnapped and was being used as a template for a clone and now this senseless massacre. He understood that the clones likely would've been terminated the moment the Sontarans left-and they _would_ leave-but their deaths wouldn't have been intended. In fact, there was a small chance that they might've still survived, even without someone to constantly give them orders. A small chance meaning highly unlikely and probably not going to happen, but a small chance none the less. He would've tried to give them an opportunity to start anew, find them a new purpose, _something_ other than what had just been done.

He closed his eyes, trying to keep his anger under control but finding it getting increasingly more difficult. The only thing keeping him from doing something hasty was the fact that he couldn't afford to do anything rash at the moment. The Time Lord observed the Martha-clone as she moved about the Valiant. At least Martha was alive, the Sontarans must've transported her to another safe location…most likely their ship after Major Price's orders, which just made his job a bit more difficult. He'd simply have to risk it. He'd have to ask Donna, and possibly Penny, to help him with this one too.

Wonderful.

Now to figure out just what exactly the Sontarans were up to. Maybe that would distract him long enough so he didn't end up tossing the Major out of the window.

* * *

"What are you doing with that, Penny?" Donna asked warily, eying the mallet in my hands with trepidation. I motioned for her to be quiet and she surprisingly complied, perhaps curious as to the reason why I was suddenly so assertive. I gingerly approached the door and pressed my ear against the wood.

Faintly, I could heard the cry of, "-the honor and the glory of the Sontaran Empire! I'll tell them that Planet Fall is coming!"

I bit my lip and slowly counted to ten before slowly opening the door just a crack. Donna was tall enough that she could easily look over my head and peek through the door herself. Briefly, the image of me poking my head out, then Donna peeking hers out, and finally the Doctor poking his out his out, hit me and I had to quickly stifle giggles. Donna prodded me, warning that I should be quiet, possible thinking the potato-men were the source of my laughter.

They weren't.

They were the reason why I shut the door soon after and hurried over back to the console. "They must be those Sonar-tarans! He never mentioned that they looked like over grown potatoes." Donna paced around the TARDIS, fretting. "Oh, Penny, what're we going to do? What does the Doctor want us to do? Space-man, you better have some trick up your sleeve, I don't want my gravestone titled, 'Death by Potato.' That'd be rubbish, Nerys would never let me hear the end of it…"

I tuned her out as I frowned at the monitor. Rose was on the screen calling out, mouthing the word 'Doctor' over and over again. My eyes frantically scanned the console but I didn't know where to begin. I had no idea which button would adjust the volume so Rose's transmission could go through…or at least make it so she could see me. One button seemed to stand out in particular on the keyboard but I hesitated. What if it was the wrong one? However, as time went on and Rose seemed more worried, I drew up my courage and pressed the button.

Unfortunately, the same time I pressed the button was the same time the Doctor's transmission came in.

It turned out that the button I pressed was, indeed, the right button because the Doctor's words rang through the TARDIS loud and clear. In fact, they were so loud and clear to the point that it was almost painful to listen to as his voice boomed through both the speakers by the monitor and the loudspeakers throughout the ship.

Well, the bright side was, I knew where the volume button was located.

"Doctor!" Donna shouted, running over to my side. "We're right here! We're in a ship filled with those Sonar-tarans and-"

"So, tell me, General Stal, since when did you lot become cowards? Guerilla warfare isn't really your style, now, is it?" The camera seemed to follow him as he walked down a set of stairs and sat in a chair, putting his feet up on a nearby table and looking completely relaxed. I frowned, the background wasn't the right one; he wasn't in the semi-truck-posing-as-an-office anymore.

"What?" Donna exclaimed, confused as she winced from the rather loud volume. "Can you hear me? No need to talk so loud!"

"Oh, you couldn't just say 'belittle?' It would've made my job a little easier…but poison gas? Those are the tactics of a coward, a weakling, someone who is going up against a stronger and better warrior. You went through all the trouble of making thousands of human clones to do your dirty work, building your own weapons for you. You could blast Earth out of the sky, completely decimating it, before it could put so much as a scratch on your shields.

"Then, to top it all off, you have the clones fighting the battle for you at the factory! Now that they're all dead and factory's lost, you're just sitting back and watching the Earth die slowly from the fumes. Where's the honor in that, the glory? Sounds like a waste of time to me…Or, there's something else going on here. What are you up to, Stal?"

"He isn't talking to us, is he?" Donna deadpanned. "He'd much rather talk to the potatoes out there, the useless lump. Sometimes I wonder how much brain is actually in that head of his." I barely paid her any attention, only able to stare at the screen numbly.

_Now they're all dead, the factory is lost…_

Those words echoed repeatedly in my head, the importance of the factory containing so many people within, including one very important person. My hand flew to my mouth, sickened. Martha couldn't die, she needed to live! She needed to be there at '_Journey's End_,' she needed to pose the threat to the Daleks with the Osterhagen key. This wasn't even mentioning the good she'll do in UNIT. We never actually know what ends up happening to her, but I'll betcha that she ends up being one of the biggest impacts in reforming it for the better.

I studied the Doctor's face. He seemed upset and angry, but not completely the Oncoming Storm. This meant one of two things, either Martha never got kidnapped and avoided being replaced by a clone or the Doctor didn't realize that the switch happened and both Martha and her clone were…were…

I swallowed hard, trying to banish the thought from my mind. No, she was alive, she had to be. She was one of the strongest people I knew, even if I only really knew her from the TV and from my brief encounters with her. The Doctor's booming voice dragged me from the dark corner that my thoughts had brought me. I still hadn't figured out where the Doctor was sending this transmission from.

"Ah! So the war isn't going that well, is it? You're losing!" Again, Donna and I flinched from the volume.

"Is there any way to turn this thing down?" Donna grumbled. "I'm going deaf here." Hesitantly, unsure if it would even work, I pressed the same button as before, only to make the volume louder, we both pressed our hands to our ears. "Wrong button!" Donna hollered.

"Sorry," I told her.

"What?!" She shouted-asked.

"Sorry!" I called back.

"What did you say? I can't hear over this Dumbo!"

"_I said_," I began before changing my mind and shaking my head. "Never mind." I looked back at the console. The button I pressed must've upped the volume, so the next to it would lower it, right? Only one way to find out. I pressed it, fearing the worst. There was a sudden absence of sound, leaving our ears ringing from the silence. I looked up back at the screen, only to discover that the Doctor's face was no longer there!

Oh, crap, this was not good.

"Where did-" Donna began, voice too loud at first before she cleared it and continued in a softer voice. "Where did he go? Did you press the wrong button or-"

Suddenly, the Doctor came back, this time, the volume was at a bearable level. "Finished?" He asked almost pleasantly, leaning forward.

"You prat, did you do that on purpose?" Donna demanded of the Doctor through the monitor. "Can you actually hear us? If you can, I'm going to rip you a new one."

The Doctor didn't react at first but eventually grew solemn before saying in an almost subdued voice, "Well, as far as prizes go, that's a good _penny_ you got there. How _noble_ of you to show how you've filched my phone box. The ironic bit is, it contains a phone, a telephonic device for communication, but there seems to be a lack of it between you and me."

"Oh my…" Donna trailed off before scrambling to grab the flip phone on the console. "I take it back, you're a genius, Doctor!" She flipped it open and made as if to dial before she frowned. "But whom am I supposed to call?"

"G-Ghostbusters?" I offered, only to get a withering look from Donna.

"Big mistake, though," the Doctor remarked, leaning back in his seat, a confident smirk on his face.

"But-But who do I phone?" Donna stammered.

"Because I got a universal remote right here," he bragged, waving his sonic between two fingers.

"You don't even have any numbers in the contacts list!" Donna exclaimed in frustration. "Doctor!" To her chagrin, the Doctor's transmission cut out and she growled, "A fat lot of good that did." I made to say something when the TARDIS shuddered, obviously being moved about. "You could've used some more code to give instructions or a number, but _no_, you _blinking cut off!_" She collapsed unceremoniously into the jump seat, completely done with the whole ordeal.

I bit my lip and wandered away, thinking hard and trying to remember what happened next in the episode. The Doctor would eventually call Donna, I knew this, but what happened next? …I think Donna went out to play Whack-a-Tater with this mallet, but after that, I couldn't remember what happened. My memories were too fuzzy.

I heard Donna murmuring on the phone, talking to her family. I wanted to assure myself that everything would work out in the end, but now I wasn't so sure…The clones, the uprising, the destruction of the factory, the Martha-clone issue…I didn't really know anymore, nothing was for certain. I mean, they mentioned none of this in the episode, so how could this be happening? Then again, I wasn't in the episode, now was I? This was all me, I was messing with the timelines.

I groaned quietly, slumping against the wall before sliding to the floor. I could feel a headache coming on, but there was nothing for it. I couldn't keep everything straight, it had been too long. I needed a diary or something, a 'Diary of Impossible Things.'

I let out a small and slightly hysterical giggle, hiding my face behind my knees when Donna curiously glanced my way as she continued to converse on the phone. I faked a sneeze before mumbling loud enough for her to hear, "Bless me." She shook her head before turning back to the conversation as it got a bit more heartfelt, I noticed her eyes glistening and felt guilty. Now was not the time to be joking around, this was serious, people could die!

My train of thought faltered and I swallowed hard, remembering that people had, in fact, _died_. My mouth ran dry and I felt my nose start to wiggle as tears began forming in the corners of my eyes.

How could I do anything to prevent this from happening again? How could I fix this? I wished for a magic solution, but none appeared, frustrating me to no end.

It was times like this, that I wished that I was a Mary Sue.

Sure, they were two-dimensional in personality, but they, at least, seemed to have everything figured out and their life in perfect order. I could do without the sappy and cliché instant-romance, but a lot of what they did seemed not-at-all stressful and extremely easy. They always seemed to have an idea or a superpower to get themselves out of any fix.

Now would be a good time for me to discover any latent superpowers or any unknown heritage within me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated very hard.

Any moment, now.

Any moment.

Seriously, any moment would be good, like right-

"Penny, what're doing?" I jumped, heart beating furiously. Donna stood in front of me, regarding my rather pathetic self with equal parts amusement and worry. "Alright?"

"I'm-I'm fine, j-just startled me," I admitted.

"I can see that, just wondering what you were doing before that," she informed me as she carefully took a seat beside me.

"…I was, I was c-concentrating."

She frowned, looking puzzled. "On what?"

I bit my lip, telling her, "You'd laugh."

"I might," she admitted honestly. "But I might not."

"…I was trying t-to make my-myself get a su-superpower or a great idea."

Donna let out a small laugh before saying, "That's better try than what I've been doing. To be honest, a superpower or an idea would be amazing about now. You keep at it, Penny. I'll try to think of something too." Smiling to myself, I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, feeling Donna do the same.

"_We're all in this together…_" I mumbled under my breath, images of '_High School Musical_' flashing briefly before my eyes. Maybe with the two of us thinking together, we'd come up with something.

* * *

The Doctor paced quietly down the hall, thinking to himself and forcibly ignoring the hauntingly familiar surroundings. Major Price had attempted-and failed-at launching some nuclear missiles at the Sontarans despite the Doctor's advice, claiming it was what the Coronel had wanted. The Time Lord couldn't be sure if this was true, but it was at times like this that he wished that his old friend, Alistair, was at hand.

Things were going downhill very quickly but it was with some relief that the Doctor found that he had the bare skeleton of a plan starting to form in the forefront of his mind. Other important, but not as critical, issues sorted themselves in the background, adding to the greater goal of the main problem's solution. There was only one thing (well, if he was honest with himself, there were several things) that was his plan was heavily pivoting on.

Whether or not Donna, and maybe Penny, would be able to successful complete their part in the whole mad scheme of his.

He groaned and rubbed his face harshly, muttering, "I know, I know, _I know_, it's risky, but what other choice do I have at this point?" There was only the stillness of the hall to answer him and the muted noise of the soldiers in the main room where nearly everyone was converged. Eventually, he grimly answered his own question, rhetorical though it was, coming to a decision. "None, there's no other way."

He prowled down the hallway farther, wanting to put more distance between him and the imposter who was posing as one of his beloved companions, as one of his family. '_Poor Martha_,' he reflected regretfully. '_She always seems to get the short end of the stick…_' He then gave a rueful smile. '_But she was one of my better companions for being able to put up with all the rubbish and being able to deal with a moody sod the whole time. Did I ever tell her how brilliant she was, _is?'

He couldn't remember.

The Doctor made a mental note to rectify that as he approached a random soldier who was currently talking to another. "You there, do you have a phone? I need it."

The soldier turned around and the Time Lord was greatly relieved to see that it was Ross. "Hello, sir," he greeted politely. "I do, but it won't be much use here. Mobiles don't have any signal up here unless they're specially modified." Ross still handed it over anyway.

"Thanks, Ross," the Doctor smiled faintly, distracted. The soldier saw this, giving the Time Lord a knowing look but refrained from commenting, seemingly aware that this was not the most secure place to have a conversation. The Doctor added another mental note to give the Brigadier a recommendation concerning the soldier beside him. Tossing his friend a wave, the Doctor strode away from the two soldiers and into an empty room, fiddling with the mobile phone in his hands with the sonic screwdriver.

Modifications complete, the Doctor made a call, completely intending to give the phone back with the universal roaming upgrade as a thanks for loaning the phone in the first place.

* * *

The phone suddenly started ringing and we both jumped. Donna fumbled trying to get it out of her pocket but managed by the sixth ring. She quickly answered, asking, "What's happening? Where are you?"

A pause.

"Yeah, we're both here…hang on." Donna moved the phone from her ear and fiddled with it before announcing, "Alright, I've got it on speaker."

"_Good, I need you both to hear what I have to say_."

"Can't you just zap us down to Earth, tell us in person?"

"Yeah, _about that…I lied. There is no remote, although I really should get one. I just needed them to move you two, so you could go around the ship undetected. I'm really, really sorry, but I need you two to leave the TARDIS_."

"But there are Sonar-tarans out there, they'll get us before we even move five feet!"

"_Son_tar_ans_," the Doctor corrected. "_They'll all be at the battle station. Like kids watching telly, they won't move from their spots. I'll walk you through everything, promise_."

"But what if they catch us?"

"…" The silence was strained on his end before he managed to say, "_I know, I know_, _but you're the only people who can do this. The whole planet is choking, there's nothing else I can do. I wouldn't ask otherwise."_

Donna and I exchanged glances and I gave her an encouraging, if strained, smile. Finally, she asked, "What do we need to do?"

"_Martha's been kidnapped by the Sontarans and is on their ship, probably near the med-bay, somewhere where no Sontaran worth his salt would be caught dead if he could help it…They'd much rather die on the battlefield. I need you two to go find her and spring her from the mental link, so her clone on Earth goes off-line._"

"Wh-What?" I gasped. "What about the f-factory?"

Silence on the Doctor's end.

I realized my mistake only when it was too late and he was asking me quietly, "_How did you know about the factory, Penelope?"_

I bit my lip, thinking swiftly before managing, "C-Clones. They'd n-need the original to c-copy. Wh-Why not at the f-factory?"

The Doctor said nothing for a moment before directing his next comment to Donna. "_I need you two to hurry, Donna. Are you outside yet?"_

"Hang on, hang on," Donna chided him as she strode hurriedly over to the door. As silently as she could manage, she opened the door and looked outside. A moment later, she just as quietly closed the door and leaned against it. "There's a Sonar-taran, er,_ Sontaran_ outside."

"_Did he see you?_"

"No…his back was to me."

"_Alright, I need you to listen carefully. There's a vent on the back of their head where the base of the skull meets the neck, the probic vent. One swift blow to the probic vent and they're out like a light_."

"But he's going to _kill_ us," Donna exclaimed in a harsh whisper.

"_I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, but you've got to try_." Donna swallowed hard and made her careful way towards where I was standing. Wordlessly, I handed her the mallet before I grabbed the regular sized hammer from underneath the console. I nervously joined her as she made her way back to the door, hesitating before absent-mindedly grabbing and putting on the Doctor's coat, which rested on the railing where he previously discarded it before helping me to medbay, and quietly opening the door once more. I didn't dare breathe as we slipped out together, the TARDIS door soundlessly closing behind us.

Donna hoisted her mallet aloft as she approached the Sontaran from behind. In one smooth motion, she brought her weapon mercilessly upon the probic vent and, with a sound similar to gas releasing, the Sontaran collapsed instantaneously. Donna lifted the phone up near her face, "Down in one!"

"_Now you need to find the med-bay. Since they can't really spare the soldiers at the moment, the guard was probably guarding both the TARDIS and the entrance of the med-bay. Is there a corridor or a door immediately to the side or next to the TARDIS?_"

"Th-There's a hallway w-with only one door on m-m-my left," I offered. "Door's open."

"_Try it, just a quick peek, but be careful!_" The Doctor warned.

"I'll try not to blow anything up," Donna joked, not so subtly referring to when the roles had been reversed. We heard a half-hearted scoff on the other end but nothing else to indicate that the Doctor was still present on his side of the line. Cautiously, we entered the room down on the other end, but just like the Doctor had predicted, there was only one guard who was keeping watch over both the TARDIS and Martha, who was hooked up on a metal stretcher on steroids with a large metal contraption stuck to her head that looked rather similar to a bear trap.

"Oh no, Martha!" I gasped. I knew this would happen, but seeing her there in real life, strapped like a slab of meat on the stretcher, was a bit too much.

"_What is it?_" The Doctor demanded. "_What's wrong?_"

"Martha's got some sort of metal thing on 'er head, got no clue what, though," Donna answered as I fretted nearby. Donna approached the unconscious woman, taking a closer look.

"…_That's probably a neural relay, connecting Martha to her clone. Currently, she in a hypnotic sleep, remove it and the connection will break, freeing her_."

"On it," Donna announced, swiftly snatching the bear trap like thing from Martha's head, making her gasp deeply as her eyes snapped open.

* * *

The clone posing as Martha prowled down the hallway, looking for the Doctor. With the plan this far down the road to completion, there wasn't a use for him any longer. In fact, her superiors had already attempted to eliminate him from existence. Truly, he was a worthy opponent, if a bit of a fool for not noticing the subterfuge from within his own ranks sooner.

She had a feeling that he was at least suspicious of her at this point as he had attempted to slip past her guard many a time. She let him go in the previous attempt and had begun to stalk him after waiting a moment or two. She fingered her gun, safety off and at the ready to make the kill for the glory of the Sontaran Empire. She witnessed the Doctor nabbing the phone off of the soldier and ducking into an empty room. Now was her chance.

She had a feeling that he was calling his companion. She never quite believed him when he said that Donna was at home but had preened at his compliment about her being a soldier, even though he'd never realize just how true it was until the last moment. Either way, this plot of his had to be put to a stop before his plan against the Empire came to fruition.

She strode confidently up to the soldier, assured that they wouldn't stop her, both high-ranking _and_ the Doctor's companion. She didn't account for the one telling her that the Doctor was busy at the moment and not to be disturbed by anyone. She whirled around, asking, "Sorry, what?"

"The Doctor is not to be disturbed," the soldier repeated.

"I'm his companion."

"Yes, you are and he is not to be disturbed," he persisted. The soldier next to him seemed surprised but said nothing, obviously this was not a pre-established order.

"Says who?" She challenged.

"I do, ma'am. The Doctor has a reason for going off and his own and shutting the door to the room behind him. He does not want to be disturbed." She was the smallest bit impressed that the tone of his voice was completely respectful and even. Most of her was annoyed by his persistence and gall, though.

"Look," she began. "You-"

Suddenly, she was cut off, voice choking in her own throat as she collapsed on the ground. It was too late, she knew. His companion had somehow infiltrated into the main ship, disconnecting the link between her and the original model. She had approximately three minutes, maybe four, before the link severed entirely and she would cease to exist.

She would not go down without accomplishing her mission.

The Doctor would die with her.

Determinedly, she began to crawl and heave herself towards the room that the Doctor was in, but once again, the soldier from before tried to prevent her from completing her objective. "Dr. Jones, I'll have to request that you remain still while Simon sends for medical assistance. Surely, as a doctor you know that it may be better to not move?"

"I must see the Doctor," she growled when he laid a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.

"Let me do it then, what does he need to know?" He continued to hinder her, and she knew that precious time was slipping past, some she could not allow.

With some difficultly, she leaned on her elbow and maneuvered the gun to an acceptable angle and fired two shots. There was a startled cry and the constricting hands disappeared. She was close now, she knew it. Her mission must be completed!

As if having been summoned, the Doctor ripped open the door with a panicked look on his face. She managed a victorious smirk as she fired the gun one last time before it fell from her now limp grip.

Objective terminated.

* * *

"_Now, you need to find the external junction feed to the teleport. It looks like a circular panel on the wall with a symbol on the front, looks something like a 'T' with a horizontal line through it or two F's back to back. When you find it, you need to take off the covering and flip all the blue switches inside_-" There were loud bangs on the Doctor's side of the phone and he cursed. "_Have to let you three go, blue switches!_"

The line suddenly went dead.

The three of us exchange solemn and apprehensive glances with each other before making our way of out the sickbay. I handed Martha the Doctor's coat which had been far too large on me and had been dragging on the floor. She nodded her thanks before whispering, "Any ideas?"

"Only way to go, is forward. There's the TARDIS and a corridor on our left with a door," Donna murmured back. Gingerly, all three of us stepped over the Sontaran laying on the ground and approached the door. "It's Sontaran shaped, you need three fingers!"

Martha studied it for a moment for muttering, "Live long and prosper." Then, making her hand in the shape of the trademark Vulcan hand sign from Star Trek, she placed it against the panel and the door opened. Grinning, she told us, "And Mum said that sci-fi would never help me any in real life."

"You are just wizard!" Donna gushed as the three of us hurriedly tip-toed in through the door, which promptly closed behind us. I hurried nodded my agreement, beaming. I would've never suspected that Martha was a fellow Trekkie…we were like unicorns or something. Besides, I thought she'd watch the British version of House or Scrubs, just for the laughs. It just seemed like something she would do to amuse herself, like when my grandpa watched Mythbusters or Big Bang Theory with me.

We scurried down the new hallway, looking for the panel the Doctor had mentioned before with the back to back F's, but couldn't find it. I didn't mention going back, but I did think about it, considering the risk level continued to rise the longer we wandered around the Sontaran ship. I couldn't tell if they felt the same way, but I had a feeling that they were the bigger persons and the thought never crossed either of their minds. It was probably a good thing that I wasn't doing this alone, I wouldn't have been able to continue as far as I did, otherwise.

Actually, we went so far, I don't think any one of us would've been able to retrace our steps back anyway. Our only option was forward.

The sound of a door sliding open could be heard and the three of us looked at each other in panic. None of us had touched a door panel. The sound of multiple footsteps could be heard and it didn't take a genius, then, to figure out what it all meant. Quickly, we ducked behind a partition, I was ushered toward the back nearest to the crack, as I was the smallest, and I sat down on my hunches while Donna stood over me. Martha stood in front of us and used the Doctor's coat to cover all three of us as the light brown blended in with the wall much better than either my or Donna's beacon-red hair.

We listened with baited breath as the soldiers marched on by, not one of them noticed us. It took somewhere between fifteen to twenty seconds for all the soldier to pass us by, and, still, we waited until their footsteps faded away. We exchanged wary glanced before Martha slowly stepped away from us, cautiously lowering the Doctor's coat. Donna helped me to my feet as Martha checked around the corner one last time. "All clear," she informed us in a whisper.

Donna sighed in relief, "Thank goodness. Just about had a heart attack there." She shuddered. "Let's get moving, yeah?" Martha gave a small smile before taking point once again, sharp eyes flickering around and taking in every panel. I merely looked for anything that looked like a teleport, a space with a giant circle of lights on the wall inside it. Definitely wasn't as easy as it looked on TV.

Martha spotted it first, asking us to be sure, "Does that look right? A 'T' with a line through it?"

"I think so, it's the only one we've found so far," Donna answered, frowning. "So, we just…pop it off?"

"Just like a fuse box…" Martha muttered, as she felt around the edges and sides. After a few tense attempts, she informed us, "My nails are a bit too short, can't get them under the crack."

"Let me try," Donna offered. "My nails are a bit longer than most people's but strong. I use varnish." After a moment, there was a slight creak and the top reluctantly came off. "Flip the blue switches he said…But which direction? Some are up and some are down!"

"I don't know, he never said!"

I felt the blood slowly drain from my face and swallowed hard. "Tr-Try calling him," I suggested hoarsely. Numbly, Donna did just that, and we all held our breath as the line rang…

* * *

The Doctor spoke with Major Price in low tones as he watched the severely injured Ross being carried away and the Martha-clone's body being covered by a sheet. He impatiently waved off any medical personnel that came near him to tend to the gunshot wound on his right arm. Right now, he felt that their only concern should be Ross who could possibly _die_. He had already carefully pulled out the two bullets using a small magnetic force generated by his sonic using a lower setting. However, he could not cauterize the wound, as several layers needed to be sealed, not just the outer one. That would require surgery.

He had made a make-shift tourniquet from the small bungee cord he found in one of his pockets, but that was just a temporary fix. It would have to do for now. The Doctor estimated that he had thirty to forty-five minutes before his wound became in dire need of attention and in danger of becoming infected or too much blood had been lost…even with his superb control over his body.

He expected more difficultly from the Major, but was surprised to find that she was as upset over Ross's injury as he was, albeit for different reasons. He noticed the suppressed grief in her expression and briefly wondered if she had loved the Coronel. It would explain why she had blatantly ignored the Doctor's advice concerning the missiles and had destroyed the factory, obliterating every last one of the clones inside. "Doctor," she finally told him. "Whatever we can do to assist you in removing the Sontarans and the…_clones_ from Earth-space, name it. Too many people are being lost and I'm running out of options. The gas is at sixty-six percent density…it's fatal at eighty."

"Drop me off at the Rattigan Academy. It has everything I need there."

"Do you need backup?"

"No."

* * *

The Doctor wasted no time in entering the building the moment the Valiant got low enough for him to leave it, swiftly striding down the halls and into the lab where Luke was tersely pacing. At the sound of the Doctor's approach, he lifted up his gun and started ordering, no, _pleading_, "Don't tell them what I did, it wasn't my fault! The Sontarans lied to me, they-"

The Doctor didn't miss a beat as he treaded forward, snatching the gun right out of the boy's hands as he breezed past, grinding out, "If I see one more gun…!" Without looking, he threw it across the room where it broke a window, landing somewhere outside. Luke stood there, face crumpled and looking lost, knowing that everything was ruined. The Doctor went into Luke's office and over to the teleport, sonic screwdriver at the ready.

He began the process of taking out wires, detaching them, reattaching them, and shifting the connections around, among other things, when Luke silently entered the room, watching him. Quite suddenly, he said, "Caesofine concentrate, one part Bosteen, two parts Probic 5."

The Doctor froze. "Clone feed, that's why they're not invading, they're converting the atmosphere. Give 'em a planet this big, they'll create billions of new soldiers. That gas isn't poison, it's food! I'll have to scrap my previous igniter fuel, too volatile for the already explosive caesofine…might blow up the whole planet." He turned to look at the shamefaced teenager. "This doesn't make up for all the things you've done, but it's a start." His sonic started to whirl once more as he turn back to the task in front of him. After a moment, the phone, Ross's phone, started ringing. Gingerly, the Doctor freed a hand to answer the phone, putting it on speaker before continuing with his task, setting it on the floor. "Got it?"

"_Up or down, you never said!_"

"Sorry," the Doctor said tersely before saying, "Up, all the blue switches need to be up. It'll turn on the teleport so I can get you three out of there." The sonic warbled as he did the last touches and he stood up, exiting the teleport and adjusting the settings on his sonic. "Donna?"

"_All the blue switches are up_."

"Alright, all three of you stand next to each other by the panel…" He heard Penny let out a small cry on the other end and aimed at the controls. "Teleporting, now!" The sonic whirled and Donna, Martha, and Penelope simmered into existence. They seemed startled and relieved.

Donna was the first to react, giving the Doctor a fierce hug, exclaiming with a small sob in the back of her throat, "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" Martha joined in and the Doctor allowed to be sandwiched for only a brief moment before wincing and squirming.

"Get off me, get off me, need to teleport the TARDIS! We can hug later, planet choking!" Truth be told, they had been aggravating his wound and it _really_ hurt, but it was just as well that he had to do this too. Once he was sure that the TARDIS was back where it should be on Earth, he deadlocked the teleports open. Mind already several steps further into his plan, one where he might not actually have to worry about his injury for much longer…

Grimly pressing his lips together, he turned, noticing Penelope looking rather faint where she sat in the teleport pod out the corner of his eyes…She was also staring his right arm in confusion. His suit jacket was over the bungee cord and the wound, soaking up the blood. The suit was too dark to see exactly what the stain consisted of and, he suspected, Penelope likely did not have perfect vision, the kind you use with your eyes.

Although, he also suspected much the same of her extra-sensory vision. He suspected that she knew about Martha's fate, even going so as to warn the older woman. Penelope didn't give out any exact details, but implied that the factory workers were dangerous and that she needed to be careful. She was also extremely surprised and distraught when the factory was revealed to be completely destroyed and largely relieved when Martha was revealed to be on the Sontaran ship, alive. He didn't know for sure the extent of her knowledge, but she seemed to be able to see into alternate timelines as well as the current one with some blind spots…Possibly, she was unable to see the direct consequences of her actions.

In short, even though Penelope could see the future, just like her ocular-vision, her extra-sensory vision was near-sighted. This was probably due to her being untrained and the visions uncontrolled. She had all the information, but it was all unsorted and jumbled, of little to no use, but just enough to be dangerous. Obviously, he would have to keep a closer-

The Doctor pursed his lips as he exited out of the teleport, heading to the lab. "One thing at a time," he absent-mindedly muttered aloud, unaware that his companions had, actually, been rushing over themselves asking questions and telling him things. He tended to do this, make off-hand remarks that weren't really intended for anyone but could be used to make it seem as if he was knowledgeable of what was going on around himself. It largely relied on others inferring and assuming things, rather than anything the Doctor actually did. A rather subconsciously intuitive trick he learned over the past one thousand something years.

The Doctor fixed his attention to the task before him, mouth on auto-pilot as he explained his idea to save the Earth, minus a few key components…like how he was going to deal with the Sontarans afterwards. He doubted anyone suspected, minds having not gone that far ahead into the series of events, as everything pivoted on the Atmospheric Converter being successful. However, the pensive expression Penelope was wearing as she steadily regard him, made the Doctor uneasy. She did nothing to interfere, which proved that she at least had some restraint, but he couldn't be sure for how long that would last.

Perhaps this would be her test?

* * *

Few things were going the way it had in the episode, the whole clone-issue and the factory among the things in the non-cannon timeline. Here was yet another, the Doctor was already at the Rattigan Academy. This was probably for the best, since the factory was already blown up, so he couldn't exactly go there first…especially if he had no reason to with Martha up in space. The atmosphere cannon seemed to work fine and the burning of the gas was a lot prettier than I expected it would be, the flames a darker, richer gold and red.

There was something else, though, a lump was under the Doctor's jacket sleeve by a dark stain. He kept moving and had his other shoulder facing the rest of us so we wouldn't notice it all that much, but…it hadn't been there in the episode. It worried me, but I said nothing because it wasn't the right time. Surely, the Doctor was smart enough to make sure he got treatment, however temporary, before saving the world?

The lump was probably a make-shift bandage or something to stopper up the blood, if that was what it was. My stomach rolled at the thought, queasy, as I watched him haul the cannon back inside at a dead-run. '_Didn't that hurt?_' I wondered as I watched it jar against his possibly-injured arm. He didn't give an indicator that it did, so I wondered if I was just paranoid, then.

The Time Lord went into the teleport with cannon under one arm and he started to fiddle with it. "Right, so…" There was a brief pause, as if he was momentarily at a loss for words, before he said, "Donna, thank you, for everything. Martha, you too, _oh_, I never did tell you how brilliant you are. Luke, do something clever with your life." Then he turned to me, voice very serious as he captured my eyes. "Penelope," he said gravely. "Watch but don't interfere, remember that."

I closed my eyes and looked down, knowing that I had already failed him. Donna murmured, almost in disbelief, "You're saying goodbye."

"Well," the Doctor said, as he pressed a few buttons on the cannon. "Sontarans are never defeated, and they're getting ready for war. And, well, you know, I've recalibrated this for Sontaran air, so..."

"You're going to ignite them, just like you did with the gas," Martha realized.

"You're going to kill yourself," Donna corrected.

"Just send that thing up, on its own, I don't know... put it on a delay!" Martha pleaded.

"I can't," the Doctor told them, looking at all of levelly, no doubt in his mind.

"Why not?" Donna asked, her voice a mere whisper.

"Because I've got to give them a chance." Not breaking eye contact, he pressed some buttons and soon disappeared from our sight. Donna let out gasp, hands covering her face before moving to the sides of her head. She stared at the teleport in disbelief, denial of what just occurred colored her face. Martha turned away, unable to bare looking at the teleport any longer. Despair seemed to cloak the room, and while I wanted so desperately to believe that everything would be alright, I couldn't be for sure.

Everything had gone so terribly wrong, maybe the Doctor really would die.

Tears filled my eyes and I gracelessly sunk to the ground, nose on overdrive, wiggling. A pressure built up in my chest and I felt a sob develop in the back of my throat. I had a hard time swallowing, but managed not to make a sound. I knew if I cried, the dam would break and I would lose control. If there was ever a time that I would find it all to be a dream, this would be it. This would be the best possible time for me to wake up in my room back in the hospital. No, even intensive care would be better than this. Never had I wanted to be there as I did now.

I almost missed it as Luke began to approach the teleport. He hesitated and I caught a glance of his face, vulnerable and scared. A tear fell down and he carefully rubbed his face with his shirt and took a careful, deep breath, swallowing hard. When the shirt was removed from his face, his expression was once more the blank and neutral mask he had been wearing the whole time I had seen him. His movements were business-like and efficient as he began to work on the cords under the teleport.

I didn't dare look away.

I remembered how back at home, he was considered an idiot despite his status as a genius. He had been considered arrogant, a jerk, and a selfish teenager who only helped out because he wanted to get back at the Sontarans. He had been portrayed as a whiny brat whose only concern was his own self-interest.

I only knew him as a scared kid.

He was just like you and me. Luke only wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere, he wanted to feel appreciated. Even though, he probably had misgivings about the Sontarans, he joined anyway, because he felt like he belonged somewhere, like he was wanted. He just had his feelings been played by people who only wanted to use him. We've all had that happen to us at least one time in our lives, made a mistake by running with the wrong crowd, put our trust in someone who would only end up hurting us. Luke just had the misfortune of being used by the Sontarans.

But that was where the similarities ended.

He was terrified, that much was evident as his hands trembled and shook, but even still, he didn't stop or hesitate once in his task. He had done wrong, and now, he was going to right it in the only way he saw how, the only way he could. No matter how much it scared him, no matter how much he wanted to run away, he was going to see this through. He was going to save the man who was willing to give up his own life to save someone he didn't even like, to save a whole planet full of people that he didn't even know.

This was where I saw him as a dignified person to be respected, a hero, even if he wasn't one by any conventional means.

"I'll remember you," I told him, my voice surprising steady as the teleport chirped, editions made. He looked at me. "I'll never forget." His eyes widened in surprise before a painful look of gratitude crossed his face.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked and our eye contact broke as he stood, addressing her.

"Something clever."

And then he was gone and the Doctor was in his place, collapsed in a heap on the teleport floor, breathing hard. He seemed to be in a stunned state of shock as he maneuvered so that he was sitting on the edge of the teleport. Martha went over and nestled in beside him, reassured that he was alive. Donna slowly made her way over and thwacked him on the arm for scaring everyone. He recoiled a bit, and both he and Martha stared at her in surprised before she fell to her knees next to him, gripped his arm in relief that he was here with us, safe.

I exhaled, sharing that strong sense of relief that was now at war with a sense of loss of this person who was one of the bravest people I ever met, and rested my head on my knees, trying to get all my tumultuous emotions into some semblance of order.

* * *

I sat on the TARDIS jump seat, carefully fiddling with the tennis racket in my hands that I had brought with me from the academy. His name was engraved on it in a fancy script, _Lucius "Luke" Rattigan_. He had probably played tennis a lot, maybe even had been good at it. He had probably practiced for hours on end, both from enjoyment of the sport and the desire to become skilled at it. Maybe he used to have dreams of becoming a professional player when he was younger before all of this.

I could almost see him as a younger kid, running after the bouncy, green tennis balls and deftly flicking them back to the opposing side with another racket, a practice one. I saw his skinned knees and sore wrists from practicing with both hands-I instinctively knew that he had been ambidextrous. I saw the disapproval from his father, him being berated for not playing a proper sport, like football (soccer) or rugby or boxing. I saw how his mother supported him, if only the smallest bit reluctantly, and told him that he was a smart kid and could make his own choices in life.

I saw where his life began to change, starting with his mother scraping together and saving the money needed to buy him this precise racket that I was holding in my very hands. He had thrown himself into the thick of tennis, ignoring his father's disapproval and grumblings as well as his mother's hints at taking advantage of his intelligence and applying it in school. Tensions began running high between both of the men, never quite coming to a confrontation or resolution, his mother coming in the middle to keep things peaceful and whole. Then his father had died and his mother had shattered, becoming less than a mere husk of what she used to be.

I saw as he put his own interests on hold then, and did everything he could to please her, putting all of his focus in school, but nothing seemed to bring his mother back, not completely. She'd give a faint smile and tell him how clever he was, how proud she was…but the words rang hollow. He had ate them up, taking anything he could, trying desperately to bring a sense of completion or satisfaction in his life. I saw him when he came back to an empty home, with no idea where his mother was, and how he never found out if she was dead or alive.

I saw how he became bitter and how he had that never-ending hunger to prove, not only to everyone else, but to himself that he was as clever as his mother had told him. I saw how he kept this racket with him always, never using it until only recently after he met the Sontarans, so sure that he had finally met his goal and could move on with his life…

I put down the racket, shuddering.

I wondered if he made peace with himself up in the Sontaran spaceship in his final moments. I wanted to believe so then, and I'd like to think to this very day that he did.

As it was now, the Doctor finally admitted to being injured, proving my suspicion correct. I was horrified to find out that he had been shot by a clone. He never specified what clone it was, but I had a hunch that I would never voice out loud. '_I guess she managed to do what her counter-part didn't,_' I thought with a cringe. '_Oh, this is my fault, if I had only watched…no, if I had only _stayed_ in the TARDIS, none of this would've happened. It would've gone just like the episode_.' Guilt filled me, my only consolation being that at least Luke…_Lucius_ would never be forgotten as long as I was alive and that he had been assured that much before he…passed away.

I looked at the racket in consideration. Perhaps, I should put it away. No one had been paying me any attention when I brought it in and when we dropped Donna off to go talk with her family. And with the Doctor whipping off his stained suit jacket with a groan the moment Donna had left, striding purposefully away to the med-bay with Martha tagging along worriedly after him, the commotion was enough that no one had noticed the memento that I had been clutching in my hands. Or, at least, it hadn't come to my attention that they did.

I was originally going to find some place to store the racket in my room, but a door just down the hall from my room open by its own power, stopping me. I curiously peered inside the room to see a relatively small room that only contained shelves. Puzzled, I straightened and stepped away from the room after a moment, not understanding. '_It must've opened by accident. A breeze blew it open or something_.' I steadfastly ignored the fact that there shouldn't be a breeze in the TARDIS.

I warily looked around the hallway with a shiver before closing the door and once more making my way down the corridor. Up ahead, I noticed another door opening and I curiously approached it, just a tad more cautiously this go around. It was the same room as before. Maybe not the same exact room, I hadn't thought so then, but one extremely similar to it. Spooked, I closed the door and hurriedly bustled down the hallway.

Twice more, the same thing happened to me with the storage room and it was then that I realized that I had to be, not a time loop, but spacial loop or something. No matter how many times I closed this door and went past it, if was up ahead and opening for me. The next time it happened, the door had a sign on it, clearly stating, 'Penelope's Loft.' I stared at it for a moment and looked inside. Once again, it was the same room with the shelves from before. I felt an impatient nudge, the same sensation that I had felt the first day here and occasionally a few time before during my time here in the TARDIS.

I had come to understand that it was the sentient ship, herself, trying to communicate with me.

Currently, she wanted me in the shelf room presently labeled as my loft. I entered it and was only now beginning to understand what the past few minutes meant. This was a storage space for my… souvenirs? I grimaced, it wasn't quite the word I was looking for, but it was the only thing I could think of with a similar definition. Reminders, maybe.

I stepped further into the room, and there, on the first available space on one of the shelves was a small label, "_**Squash Racket: Sontaran Stratagem &amp; Poison Sky**_." I swallowed hard and looked at the racket in my hand. Clearly, this was the place where it was meant to rest. I peeked at the label next to it, it was halfway blank, the second half of it was labeled, "_**The Doctor's Daughter**_." I looked at the next label, it was completely blank. Intuitively, I knew that this was to prevent any paradoxes or force anything to be written in stone.

A voice floated in the back of my mind, "_Anything you read will happen, it becomes fixed, because you read it, I have to do it. For this, time can't be rewritten, it's fixed. I'm sorry_." I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled, dismissing the vaguely familiar voice. I gently placed the tennis-sorry, _squash_-racket in its designated spot and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind me. I would be back, but for now, I had other things to attend to…like making sure the Doctor was alright.

Not that I didn't trust Martha, I just wanted to make sure that I didn't screw so bad that I cost the Doctor an arm or something…

My blood ran cold at the thought. Unlike when he first regenerated, he wouldn't be able to just grow it back, it would stay gone until '_Journey's End_' when he sort-of regenerated. Fearfully, I trotted down the halls until I found the sickbay. The Doctor still had his arm and was making a face at his stained suit jacket, currently shirtless. My eyes drifted to where I originally saw the blood…there was only the faintest traces of a round scar. Martha was putting away some futuristic looking device.

I must've made some small noise by stepping further into the room, because the Doctor looked up, spotting me. He sent me a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, 's alright now. I'm just fine, thanks to Martha, not even unfamiliar technology from the future can stop her." Martha rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, taking the compliment for what it was. "I'm going to go change out of this suit. Martha, you're welcome to whatever you want in the wardrobe!" I stepped back to let the Doctor past as he headed into the direction of the rooms, presumably to go to his own.

Martha came to stand next to me and we both watched him disappear around the corner. She was still wearing his coat, I realized, not having any time to change into anything else since the Doctor had a wound that needed medical attention. Suddenly, Martha spoke, "He never directly asks, you know, when he wants you to come with him. He's trying really hard, now, to make me feel like I'm appreciated. It's nice to know he cares, but I'm good here, back at home. I've been better for my time away." She gives a smile, and I realize that she's not directly talking to me, I just happen to be here.

I find myself not minding this too much, falling into the familiar habit of passive listening. Something, I realized with no small amount of amusement, that I always did. I tended to give the air of being easy to talk to and being able to give good advice when wanted. Laura had always said I should be a psychologist or therapist, and I could see where she was coming from. Most of the time, people just needed someone to listen to them. I, however, had been firmly set on my path as a dental hygienist.

That didn't mean that I couldn't lend a sympathetic ear, or even just an ear in general, once in a while.

Martha seemed to shake herself out of whatever train of thought that she had put herself in and sent another smile to me, this one slightly confused and a bit embarrassed. She excused herself and went down another hallway, that one being in the direction of the wardrobe. I didn't feel insulted, I understood that she was just baffled and self-conscious at sharing something so personal with someone that she only had known for a few hours.

I paused. Had it only been that long? It had felt so much longer than that, like a day or two. I now understand what Rose had meant by how traveling with the Doctor could seem timeless and, at the same time, like forever. It all depended on what part of the adventures with him you were looking at.

I eventually meandered back to the console room and took my now-becoming-customary spot on the jump seat. I swung my legs back and forth and as I shifted, my hand landed on something slightly damp. It was the gauze from before, still laying right where I left it on the jump seat. I regarded it for a moment before uncertainly picking it up and stuffing it in the big decorative pocket on the overalls I was wearing. I figured that I'd get rid of it when the chance presented itself. The Doctor reappeared in the console room, wearing his brown suit and adjusting his tie. I studied his apparel, scrunching my nose slightly. I had always preferred the blue suit on him.

He noticed. "What?"

I was quiet for a moment before finally remarking, "You remind m-me of a t-twig." He gained an affronted look and I realized how rude that the statement actually was. I hurriedly apologized and explained my line of thought. "I li-like brown, it's my f-favorite color. It's j-just, you're so s-slender and-and tall, not tha-that that's bad, I mean, er…" My hands fluttered uselessly as I tried to explain. Finally, I muttered, "That sounded d-different in my h-head…"

The Doctor was now more amused than anything at this point, but he let the conversation drop, moving to stand next to the console and fiddle with it. Martha joined us not long after, unsurprised to see the Time Lord where he was, doing what he was doing. I had a feeling that's how she usually found him and that this was something he usually did in his free time: fiddling with the console and messing with things that didn't really need to be messed with, he just liked doing it. The TARDIS remained silent for only a few moments more until Donna came in.

It was if we had been frozen and unable to break the silence for different reasons.

Martha unfroze first. "How were they?" She asked, voice soft.

"Oh…" Donna said as she walked up the ramp and onto the grating towards us. "Same old stuff, they're fine, yeah." Changing the subject with a burst of energy, she turned to Martha, "So, you going to come with us? Not exactly short on space here, more the merrier."

"Well, I have missed all this…but I'm good here, back at home. I've been better for it. Besides, I've got someone waiting for me. Never mind the universe," Martha told us with a genuinely happy smile as she headed towards the open TARDIS door. "I've got a great big adventure-"

The previously open door slammed shut of its own accord and the TARDIS suddenly shuddered, piloting itself into flight. The sound similar to a train braking or a car engine failing to start echoed around us and the Doctor's hand hiding under the console bubbled violently in its container. "What? What?" The Doctor yelped, seemingly unable to comprehend this, the TARDIS piloting itself to and unknown destination, despite his best efforts to cut the trip short.

"Doctor, don't you dare!" Martha warned him severely as the world around us shook.

"I ain't touching it!" The Doctor managed to get out at he grabbed hold of the monitor, staring into it. "We're in flight!" His voice was high in disbelief. "But-But it's not me!"

Donna managed to grab hold of the console and spat out, "Where're we going?"

"Don't know, she's out of control!" He grit his teeth as even he struggled to maintain balance. All I could do was clutch onto the arm rest of the jump seat and hope for the best. I made a promise to myself to get seatbelts installed the moment I got the chance to bring it up to the Doctor.

"Doctor, listen to me, I'm not doing this again, take me home!" Martha pleaded, as the TARDIS continued to jolt us, sparks falling from above us. The Doctor grabbed a knob and attempted to twist it, sending more sparks flying down.

"What's it doing?!" Donna demanded with yelp, trying to protect her head from the sparks while maintaining her grip on the console.

"Controls aren't working-" The TARDIS gave an almighty lurch, sending the Doctor crashing into me. I let out a yelp and he apologized as he took note of his bubbling hand. "I have no clue where the Old Girl's sending us, but my hand's excited about it!"

Donna gaped at him as he grabbed a level with both hands and attempted to pull it back, putting a foot on the console for leverage. "Are you telling me it's yours?! I thought that was just some freaky alien thing!"

"Well…"

"It is an alien thing! It got cut off, and he just went and grew another one!" Martha explained.

"You are…completely…impossible!" Donna bit out.

The Doctor looked almost offended. "Not impossible!" He grunted as he strained against the lever, both feet now on the console as he struggled to pull it down. "Just…a bit unlikely!" Finally, he succeeded in pulling down the level. The TARDIS sparked on final time with the biggest, whiplashing shake yet, sending the Doctor tumbling into the jump seat next to me while Martha and Donna flew back onto the floor. The TARDIS made its signature 'thump' as it landed and the noise and chaos died down.

My ears rang in silence as we all breathed hard and looked at each other.

Abruptly, the Doctor jumped up at and ran to the door, grabbing his coat on the way out. Martha and Donna pick themselves up off the floor and, reluctantly, I got out of the jump seat and followed them…

…Into what looked like a scrapyard.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

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_**Poll:** _Decide the fate of Ross via shapes: Circle, Triangle, and Square. I'll let you know the results two chapters from now.

_**Explanations:**_

*** **I don't tend to say "you betcha" very often. I'm far more likely to say "I'll betcha (insert what I'm betting here)."

*** **The theme song for 'Ghostbusters' went something like this, "Who you going to call? Ghosterbusters! I ain't afraid of no ghosts."

***** The 'High School Musical' trilogy is one of the childhood movies series I used to absolutely love watching on Disney channel. That and 'Halloween Town.' Be prepared for lots of show tunes from musicals, Pixar, and Disney. :)

***** Tater is another word for potato.

***** Uh-oh, looks like Penny screwed up! She's making the Doctor more suspicious of what she does and does not know. D:

***** Yes, I injured the Doctor. Had you going there, didn't I? }:D

***** The whole situation with Luke rather bother me. Yes, he was a complete and total butt-munch towards the beginning...but people tend to discredit his redemption at the end of the episode, and that gets my goat. I wanted to portray him in another light, make him more relatable.

***** I hated that brown suit of his. Don't ask me why, I just didn't like it. I thought the blue looked better on him.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE: **I'm A What Now?

**AUTHOR:** evilpinklollipop

**ID:** 10260014

**SUMMARY:** I'm lucky and, though not one hundred percent sure, I think I've just hit the jackpot. I don't know what the hell I did in my last life to deserve a second chance but here I was, alive and kicking. Now all I have to do is not die again.

**OPINION:** Okay, guys, if there was only one thing that I could ever ask you, it would be this, _**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE** _signal boost this story! I thought it was so flippin' awesome, but the author hasn't updated since April, and I really, _really_ like this story. Spam this story's review box, _please_, or, at the very least, check it out!

_**Thought Processes:**_

Another day, another chapter beta-read by our lovely Emptyvoices! :D A seriously wonderful person.

So, I have a message for one of you readers out there, specifically my only reader in Japan.

**YOU ARE A WONDERFUL PERSON FOR CHECKING OUT MY STORY SO OFTEN!**

Seriously, in my story stats, you are the only person in Japan reading this story, and unlike other viewers (who are still amazing and wonderful, don't get me wrong), you don't check out the story once or twice, but twenty-something times! It really makes me feel appreciated. :)

Oh, geez, please don't be creeped out by this.

It's just, you made your country fourth place in terms of views _single-handedly_, which is pretty impressive, just saying.

By the way, I have a question for everyone else reading this.

For countries whose main language is something other than English, how do you read this? Are you bi- or multi- lingual? Because, I'm barely able to speak English (my first any only language) properly, so that's pretty damn impressive. Do you use a Google translator or some other translating device if you only speak/read your own language?

Also, how did you guess even find this story? What brought you here and compelled you to read it in the first place? I'm curious!

Happy Wednesday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

_Date Submitted:_ _Wednesday, October 1, 2014_.


	10. I Didn't Even Know His Name

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

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Random wooden crates, metal sheets covered with holes like swiss cheese, and what looked like giant slinkies stretched out, littered the place. I coughed a bit in the smoky, dusty air, feeling a bit uncomfortable as I covered my lower face with a sleeve, looking a lot like a vampire-wannabe. We had landed in a junkyard somewhere inside a massive tunnel. I had a feeling that I had seen this somewhere before. What was the next episode after Poison Sky? Eyebrows furrowed deeply in thought, I wandered closer to the machine that was providing the main source of light in the dimly light tunnel.

My mind flashed back to my "shelf-room" and to the metal plate next to the racket, '_The Doctor's Daughter_.' Images of fishmen, soldiers, and lovely blondes filled the empty blanks that I had been drawing, and I remembered. My right hand fell from my mouth, forming into a fist, and dropped into my upturned left hand, as I finally got my light bulb moment. This was the episode that had always annoyed me, because they never tie up the loose end Jenny left when she-

"Stay where you are!" A man barked, causing me to jump with a startled squeak. "Drop your weapons!"

"We're unarmed," the Doctor called, voice unalarmed and hands raised. "Look, no weapons, never have any, we're safe." His lax attitude was a bit unnerving to see in person. I knew that it was just a part of who he was, but couldn't he be a bit more…I didn't know what he could be a bit more of. It was just rather unsettling.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one to think this, with the cautious looks the soldiers sent our way and how their grips on their large guns tightened. Abruptly, a dark haired man's face registered shock. "Their hands, they're clean."

Unfalteringly, the man closest to us ordered, "Alright, process them, one at a time." The two other men set their weapons aside and began to approach us.

Fearfully, I retreated back towards the Doctor, but my movements were much to slow and I was swiftly apprehended. "N-No, please!" I cried out, struggling.

"Oi!" The Doctor protested. "Hands off of her!" Ignoring the warning of the still armed soldier, he grabbed a hold of the taller soldier and pulled him away. Immediately, they switched targets to the Doctor instead and restrained him. "What-What's wrong with clean hands?!" He asked incredulously as he was frog marched over to the glowing machine and I was ushered behind both Donna and Martha. He arm was forced into a device that was connected to the machine with a clunk. It made noises and a small clanks as it powered up, and the Doctor turned to look at the soldiers dryly. "If you just wanted my blood pressure, it's- _Ah_!" He interrupted himself with a yell of pain.

I whimpered and hid my face in Martha's back.

"What's it doing to him?" Donna demanded furiously, hands still raised and powerless to do anything.

The only soldier still holding his weapon answered dismissively, "He's getting processed, just like everyone else."

"It's taken a tissue sample," the Doctor noted out loud, brows furrowed in thought. Abruptly, the machine let out a high pitched whine. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" The Doctor yelped, hopping in place and pressing against the arm restraint, gritting his teeth. The whine finished and the Doctor continued to explain, gasping, "And extrapolated it! Is this some sort of accelerator, eh?"

He looked at the soldiers in askance as the machine released him with a clunk. The soldier, now all holding weapons, kept their guns loosely trained on him as he stumbled away, cradling his hand and scrutinizing it curiously. Martha and Donna rushed over next to him, also hurrying to examine his hand. I made to follow, but a chirping, electric sound stopped me. Transfixed, I stared at the glowing, blue machine capsule as steam began to ooze out from the cracks.

The moment it opened and I saw her face, it was like I had seen it before. Unconsciously, I glanced between the Doctor and Jenny, comparing them. While she had a few similarities in appearance to Georgia Moffett, she was unmistakably related to the Time Lord four feet to the right of me.

For one thing, she had his nose.

That was the first thing that stood out, but it suited her less rounded and narrower, more defined facial structure. Her hair was still blond but much thicker, there being more of it. A few soft freckles dusted her cheeks, not quite as noticeable as her fathers but still present. And then her eyes opened. I didn't even realize they were closed at first, but then it became so obvious, once I saw them, that I nor anyone else could doubt it.

She also had his eyes.

"Jenny," I breathed. "The Doctor's daughter." I felt his gaze and saw his stare out of the corner of my eye, but I refused to acknowledge the Doctor, too enthralled with the deviation from the TV show. I rather liked this version of Jenny. Her face did throw me off a bit, but it suited her quite well, I felt. Besides strongly and vaguely resembling the Doctor and Georgia, respectively, there was someone else she reminded me of. I couldn't quite place it, but I know that I had seen that face before elsewhere. The name and person remained elusive, and the more I tried to recall, the harder it was to focus on that resemblance.

My intense concentration on her was broke as she was handed a gun with the order to arm herself. She held it in her hands curiously, looking it over with a mild frown as she turned it over in hands. I wondered if there was going to be more divergence from the show, like with Jenny being a pacifist or not knowing how to handle a gun. Unfortunately, this idea was quickly dispatched when she began to take the gun apart with an efficiency that could only be muscle memory, an engrained action hardwired into her. I dimly heard the Doctor, Martha, and Donna's discussion, and Jenny seemed to sense my intrigued stare.

Although, I have to admit, it would pretty hard not to with how blatantly I was doing it.

Her eyes quickly flitted over me, taking complete stock of my appearance, before she smiled at me, holding an almost baffled air. "Hello, Dad," she greeted the Doctor with a grin when looked to him next. But when her gazed moved to Donna and Martha, her grin faded once more to a slightly baffled one. "The civilians next to you are not safe here," she continued. "Why are they here?"

'_Civilians?_' I thought confused. '_Who is she-oh, _oh_… She thinks we're civilians, which we _are_, but what made her immediately think that and not the Doctor?_' As I mental compared us to the soldiers in the room, I realized that it was pretty obvious that we weren't battle material in the normal, stereotypical sense. For one thing, no weapons. Our clothes didn't have the wear and tear of people fighting in a war. Finally, just how the other soldiers were treating us hinted that we didn't exactly belong. And the Doctor because he was her dad, of course she'd think that he was a soldier too.

Briefly, so quickly that if I hadn't already been watching her I would've missed it, her eyes glanced between both Donna and me. I wondered if she thought that Donna and I were related like how she and the Doctor were related, and, since neither Donna or I had a mark on our hands, how that was possible. Did she learn about Sex Ed as well as the Way of the Warrior while in the machine? Did _any_ of the people here learn about it?

It was a question that I would never _dare_ ask anyone about but would always wonder.

"That is a question that we're saving for General Cobb to find out," the soldier that seemed to be in charge here told her as he gestured for her to follow him over to the barricade. "Are you primed to take orders, ready to fight?"

Cool as a cumber, she replied as they both passed me, "Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation 5,000 soldier primed and in peak physical health." She cocked her gun as she stood by the Swiss cheese metal plate. "Oh, am I ready." All four soldiers aimed their guns down the tunnel, guns aimed and ready for anything…ready for the fishmen.

I caught movement from the corner of my eye, and turned to see another soldier that I hadn't noticed before messing with a small, yellow machine on the wall. He pressed something, making it let out a brief and very annoying beep, before turning away. I wondered if it was an intruder alarm and he was resetting it because we had set it off earlier. I made to turn around and ask the Doctor what that was when I heard a crash down the tunnel.

"Something's coming!" Jenny warned and all the soldiers tensed, weapons raised a little higher. Footsteps could be heard rushing through the tunnel and shadows appeared, looking larger than life, on the wall. Several green flashes could be seen, shinning in the dark as the fishmen got closer and closer. Then they started to fire, the rata-tat-tat of guns sounding almost deafening in the tunnel as the noises were amplified. I covered my ears and closed them tightly, only to shriek when strong hands pulled me back.

Heart pounding, my eyes flew open to see the Doctor anxiously tugging me back to safety. He pulled me behind him towards Martha and Donna as he kept his gaze trained on the fight in front of him. Cool hands gripped me and pulled me close, and I heard her say loudly, "C'mon, we can't stay here. We'll get caught in the crossfire!" Ducking down, I followed her to the left, hiding behind some scrap metal. We could only sit there and watch helplessly as the gun fight went on.

One of the soldiers got shot and fell to the ground. He didn't get back up.

I curled up into a ball, trying to protect myself from all the violence happening around me to very little success. "I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to-" My mantra was cut off by a shriek from Martha and before I could react, a strong gloved hand grabbed my arm and hefted me to my feet too, while another wrapped around my mouth. I screeched and cried as I was dragged away.

The fishmen, I had forgotten about the fishmen. Were they good? Bad? Did they eat people? How did Martha escape from them? Was I going to die? My mind had gone blank from fear. I couldn't remember. I didn't know. I didn't know what was going to happen. I might die. I might actually die.

There was so much noise and screaming, couldn't make out a word. And there was Martha, just ahead of me with her fishman captor. What did they want? Were we hostages, like prisoners of war? Suddenly, there was a loud explosion of sound, so loud that it was the only thing I could hear. We went flying, the fishman and I. We were flying. And then we fell. The ground, it hurt, it hurt so bad. I throbbed, ears ringing as everything seemed to get dark for a moment. I might've pass out, I couldn't tell if time had passed.

I couldn't get up. The fishman was on top of me, he wasn't moving. Why wasn't he moving? Why was my back wet? Why was it so dark? I tried to cry out, to scream, but I couldn't say a word. Try as I might, not a sound was heard from me. I screamed, I cried, but all was silent, no sound of my voice. There was no sound, no noise, silence. I couldn't hear anything, even the ringing in my ears had stopped. I started to hyperventilate, breathing in the smoky and stale air. I was going to die. I had been buried alive along with the fishman who still hadn't moved, who hadn't said anything, who probably even de-

Light, suddenly, there's light, and I renew my efforts to cry for help, to scream, to do _something_. Stuff was moved out of the way faster and soon, there was Martha, relief evident on her face. Her lips moved, she had obviously said something, but I couldn't hear a word. In fact, I couldn't hear anything. My throat was sore. They had heard me. I was deaf.

Panic begins to set in, and unthinkingly, I touch my ear with one hand. It's wet. I bring my hand back to look and see blood. I scream, or, at least, I think I screamed. I'm frightened, really, truly, frightened. The explosion, it had been so loud, had it destroyed my ears? Martha looks scared and she helps me up. This makes me feel sick and nauseous, and when she assists me to a standing position, I feel dizzy. Not the just-got-off-a-tire-swing kind, but the I-just-went-on-the-tilt-a-whirl-ride-for-the-fifth-time-in-a-row-and-I-can't-tell-up-from-down kind. I have to sit down. Martha is checking my head for lumps and had tentatively pulled up the back of my suspicious damp shirt to check underneath.

I caught moment from the corner of my eye. It was the fishmen! I told Martha as much, I think I told her. She didn't seem worried though. Came in front of me some I could see her and made calming motions. She turned to the fishmen and gave a thumbs up which they returned. "_They're okay. Okay. O…K…_"She mouthed.

"_Okay_," I repeated, well, I think did. I'm sure did. Let's say I did.

Then she turns her head over to the fishmen and walks over to them. They found the fishman, brought him out. There's red everywhere. And should someone's neck hang at that angle? All that red, it was blood, he was bleeding. Why wasn't he moving? All that blood, someone help him! Hurry before-

There was a long metal beam sticking out of his back. He was dead.

The nausea returned full force and I lean over the side and emptied what little was in my stomach, gagging. His blood, I was covered in his blood. He was dead. Lord have mercy, he was _dead_. I heaved again, bracing myself with trembling arms. I want to go home. Things like this didn't happen at home. I want to go home.

A hand placed itself softly on my shoulder making me jump. It was another one of the fishmen. He gently patted my shoulder before gesturing for me to get up. "_I can't_," I tried to say. I hoped my words got across to him as he cocked his head a bit to the side. Then he turned around and presented me his back. I flinched, mind flipping back to the metal rod and all the _red, red, red _blood. "_I can't_," I repeated. "_Can't_."

Then he leaned backwards and used his hands to pull me on to his back. Gripping me tightly, he stood up and adjusted his grip so that I was supported more comfortably. My head spinned from the vertigo, and I was forced to rest my head on his neck, trying to fight back the nausea.

I couldn't think, my mind was blank.

I couldn't hear, my ears were ruined.

* * *

Eventually, we came into what I could only guess used to be a ballroom or a museum that had been converted into barracks for the fishmen. Marble columns stood sentry while sheer curtain flowed in between them along the walls. There was another one of those machine from before, only instead fishmen came out. Everything was dimly lit and sectioned off by glass dividers. It was actually quite pretty with all the blues and whites and golds.

No red, though, not one bit of red anywhere.

We were taken further into the room and the fishman leading us came to a stop. The fishman carrying me, gently set me down next to Martha, who I gripped onto for support. The main fishman, I was guessing he was the leader, waved his arm around and, I'm guessing, shouted, collecting the attention of all the other fishmen in the room. He turned to face us and I watched as the little capsule filled with green liquid burbled. I supposed this meant he was talking, but I couldn't be for sure.

Martha wrapped arm around me and pulled me close to her as the fishmen started to close in around us. All of their little tanks bubbling as if they were all saying something. "_Martha_," I tried to say, throat vibrating. Her hand gave my arm a comforting squeeze and didn't let go.

The fishmen stepped closer and Martha randomly waved with her other hand. I couldn't be for sure, but she might've even said, "_Hello!_" I let out a nervous giggle, she had picked up more from the Doctor than she thought. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she was trying to channel her 'inner-Doctor.' Clearly, he would've been a big help right now. The fishmen were so close to us, it was actually a bit awkward and uncomfortable, personal bubbles being utterly invaded. One of them reach out a hand, and I flinched, closing my eyes and expecting the worst.

_Pat._

_Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat._

Baffled, I opened my eyes, completely mystified as the fishmen petted us. It was bit strange, but I realized that it would probably something I would do if I found a friendly and cute looking creature. I wondered if we were like cute little critters in the fishmens' perspective. They were mostly touching our hair, which must be a novelty for them, since they had mostly scales. In a sense, Martha and I were like a pair of dogs or cats, and the fishmen were a bunch of curious children petting the soft fur. It was a bit humbling, in a way, but not demeaning. Actually, it was a bit nice too, but I'd never ever tell anyone that.

Once they had gotten their fill, some wandered back to what they had been doing beforehand, while others stood around nearby to observe. The leader of the group who had apparently introduced us, beckoned us forward over to what looked like R2-D2 without any legs or a head, just the cylinder body. Martha helped to support me as I staggered to where R2-D2's remains were. There, the fishman leader fiddled with the controls until a hologram fizzled into existence. Well, I think it fizzled, it looked pretty old-school, so I assume it fizzled instead of zapped or sputtered. I only really had visual clues to go on.

Faintly, I could see the outline of a grid, like you would see on graph paper, with the layout of what must be the base superimposed over it, like a kid had shaded it in. The fishman leader burbled at Martha for a while and had a very grave expression on his face. Well, I assumed it was grave, there appeared to be a somber mood in this setting. Martha nodded and told him something before hesitantly pointing at a place on the map. The leader followed to look where she was pointing only to turn to her in such a way that could only imply, '_Really, are you serious, right now?_' The other fishmen shook their heads or melodramatically turned to look at the ceiling or away from us in disinterest. Obviously, whatever Martha had said was the wrong answer.

Disinterested, because I couldn't hear what was going on, I absently stuck my hand through the hologram. My hand tingled and I pulled it back out. I was faintly reminded of an overhead project that my science teacher always wheeled out when giving lectures and the flimsy, see-though, plastic pages he would place down for each slide. Curious now about the tingly feeling I had received, I stuck my hand through the hologram again, only to have a hand placed on my elbow. Martha smiled and shook her head before meaningfully glancing at the fishmen. Understanding that they probably wouldn't like me messing around with their futuristic overhead projector, I removed my hand once more.

Suddenly, the R2-D2 body I had been leaning against turned, and I stood up straight, watching as the hologram scaled down and glitched before revealing more shaded in parts, only these ones in a slightly different color, a paled yellowish-blue instead of just a slate-blue. Excited, Martha gestured at the fishmen, inviting them to come see the new slide on the holo-projector. They came over and looked between themselves, Martha and I, and the hologram. Maybe it had been broken and the two of us had accidently fixed it?

Soon, a whole crowd began to form around Martha and I, all trying to get a glimpse at the hologram. I saw all the little tank on their faces bubbling excitedly and assumed this to be a good thing. The leader who had been previously on the other side of the room, rejoined us and examined the hologram for himself and turned to his fellow fishmen. I think he was giving a motivating speech with all the fist-pumps and enthusiastic arm waving her was doing. Soon, the other fishmen were fist-pumping to and hefting their guns in the air in what must've been celebration. If this was them after we unfreezed their holo-projector, albeit accidently, I wondered how they would react if we fixed their wi-fi or something.

The fishman who had carried me earlier standing on the other side of Martha patted her shoulder. She turned to him and shook her slightly, shrugging. He just nodded and patted her on the shoulder once more, as the other fishmen walked by us and petted us on the head or shoulders in what must've been thanks. They bustled around, all looking terribly busy and distracted, gathering supplies and weapons. By this point, my dizziness has subsided and I can stand by myself. Hopefully, this meant that I was finally starting to get better.

The fishmen continued to make preparations, some had already started to leave. I watched them for a few minutes before deciding to sit on one of the beds. Surely, they wouldn't mind if I just rest my feet for a moment or two? All of them looked so busy and none of them so much as looked at the beds. They probably didn't notice, or if they did, they didn't care.

Satisfied that I wouldn't upset anyone, I scooted further on the bed and leaned back against the wall, relaxing. I contented myself to watching everything that was happening, my memory supplying the noises while my ears still failed to do anything but ring.

Wait, ring?

It was then that I actually processed the fact that my ears were ringing, and encouraged by this, I pawed at them. Blood, which had dried and become encrusted, came away from my skin and onto my hand. I grimaced in disgust, wishing for something to wipe away all the dry blood, when I remembered the gauze in my front overall pocket. Quickly, I brought it out, tore off a strip, and carefully cleaned my ears. Lots of gross looking crust came away and I gagged, remembering the sight of that fishman's limp form. Closing my eyes, I blindly cleaned up my ears as best as I could to get rid of any blockage. There was no improvement, but my ears continued to ring instead of just being silent which I took as a good sign.

I dropped my arms into my lap and released a shuddering breath. That fishman had saved my life. He probably didn't mean to, but he did, and I didn't even know his name.

* * *

"What doesn't make sense is this 'Breath of Life' story," the Doctor grumbled as he sat down of the bench.

"Or these numbers I keep seeing," Donna added. "Look over here, another set of 'em. It's all got to mean something." Indeed, there were more numbers, but they were hardly important at the moment in the Doctor's mind. In fact, they were close to the bottom of the list of priorities that he had.

"So, are you implying that you think it's not real?" Jenny asked.

"Well, yeah, I mean, it's just a myth, right, Doctor? Every place has got one," Donna answered as she took a seat next to the brooding Time Lord. '_Really_,' she thought. '_He has _got_ to have the worst case of Instant Father Shock that I've ever seen_.'

"In every story, there's a grain of truth," the Doctor reluctantly admitted. "While I'm a bit skeptical of the 'Breath of Life' actually being the breath of some deity, the Source is likely an actual thing. Now, question is, what sort of thing it could be. Information, possibly a long-lived creature, a weapon…"

"So, you're saying that the Source could be a weapon, and we just gave a Google-map-accurate set of directions to General Wacko?"

"Oh, yes," the Doctor groaned as he sat up straight, regarding Jenny in front of them who was staring back with an unreadable expression and crossed arms. "That's why we need to get out of here, find Martha and Penelope, and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath…" Jenny was still staring at him only this time more intensely. The Doctor found hard to concentrate with his own eyes, only so much younger, scrutinizing him so intensely. "What-What are you…What are you, what are you staring at?"

Donna looked at the Doctor in surprise, he had been stuttering just as bad as Penny! This surprised her, the normally so calm and collected Doctor was losing his cool in the face of fatherhood.

"All this time, you kept insisting that you weren't a soldier, that you were a pacifist, yet just look at you! Coming up with plans and strategies like a proper commander," Jenny exclaimed, smiling in disbelief. "Really, we're not much different."

"Oh, no," the Doctor immediately refuted. "No, no, no, no…_I_ am trying to stop the fighting. We're not alike."

Jenny pretended to give some thought, pursing her lips in a particular way that was reminiscent to the only other alien in the cell. "Well, isn't very soldier?"

"Well, I s'pose, but that's…that's…technically…" The Doctor sputtered before abruptly changing the subject since this had become a conversation he knew he couldn't win without folding or compromising. And he was willing to do neither at the moment, instead, he'd much rather drop it entirely. "I haven't got time for this." Turning to his companion and completely dismissing Jenny, he stuck out his left hand while the other dug in his pocket. "Donna, give me your phone," he ordered. "Time for an upgrade."

Donna gave a silent laugh of disbelief. The Doctor was so blatantly obvious about his avoidance, that it was funny in a sort of pathetic way. Still, she supposed that she could enable this for a little while longer. It was too fun watching the Doctor struggle not to. She handed over her phone which the Doctor took from as he finally brought out his sonic.

"You even have a weapon!" Jenny cried.

"Not a weapon!" The Doctor sing-songed under his breath.

"Is too! You're using it to fight back!"

"Which makes it a tool!"

"Which you use to fight back!" She laughed, incredulous that they we still going on about it at this point. Why didn't he just accept it? Accept her? "Weapons can be considered tools too, a means to an end. Ooh, I'm going to learn so much from you. You are _such_ a soldier."

The Doctor opened and closed his mouth, completely speechless before turning to the red head next to him pleadingly, "Donna, will you tell her?"

This time, Donna didn't bother being quiet about her amusement, laughing openly. "I have never she you speechless before, Doctor. Oh, I am _loving_ this. You keep on, Jenny." Knowing that he wasn't going to be getting any help from his friend, the Doctor turned to the phone in his hand in complete frustration, feeling an unreasonable amount of stress and tension for what the situation called for. He had been, and was continuing to, take the news of his newfound parenthood rather poorly. The Doctor eyed Donna as the phone began to ring, calling Martha.

After the third ring, the phone was answered, "_Doctor?_"

"Martha!" The Doctor shouted, leaping to a standing position. "You're alright!" He grinned, "Martha Jones, nothing can keep you down."

"_Doctor! Oh, you cannot _believe_ how glad I am to hear your voice. Are you alright?_"

"I'm with Donna, we're fine, how 'bout you?" The Doctor spoke so fast the words almost ran together as he listened intently for a response on the other end.

"And," Donna began, temporary catching the Doctor's attention by gently placing a hand on his arm and gesturing towards the blond. "And Jenny." Donna prompted, looking at the Doctor meaningfully. "She's here with us too."

"Yes, alright, and-and…Jenny…That's the-the woman from the progenation machine…the soldier…" Donna crossed her arms and continued to stare at him pointedly. The Doctor adverted his eyes and gave a sniff, mumbling, "My daughter-except she isn't! She's…She's…Er, anyway…Where are you?"

"_Well, I'm in the Hath camp. They're actually nice blokes, and things could be worse, but…something's going on. They're preparing for something…The Hath are all marching off to some extra tunnel system that just appeared on this map…thing. Looked like a hologram of the whole base_."

A dawning look of dismay and dread crossed the Doctor face. "Oh…That was me…Um, if both armies are heading that way, there's going to be a bloodbath." He grimaced before frowning. "Martha, have you seen Penelope at the Hath camp with you? Is she…Is she alright? Are you both safe?"

"_…_" There was a heavy pause that turned his hearts cold. "_Doctor, the thing with Penny…That explosion, she's dea-_" Martha's voice was cut off by a dial tone, and the Doctor could only stare into space in unconcealed horror. Penny was dead.

* * *

"-deaf… Doctor? Doctor?!" Martha pulled the phone away, and groaned. "Oh, why did I have to forget to charge it last night? It's not exactly like there's going to be a power outlet and charger here!" She paused, frowning. "Is there?" She turned to the only Hath still around in the camp and quickly jogged over to him. "Hey, um, I need to charge this, it's really important. I need power for this… The Hath hardly paid her any mind, continuing to fiddle with the machine that was projecting the hologram. Martha wondered if the language barrier was interfering again or if he was even paying any attention to her at all. "Do you understand me?" She queried, feeling desperate at this point.

This time the Hath looked at her and burbled in his own language before the image on the hologram changed once again, scaling down and turning on its side, becoming three-dimensional. Martha's eyes widened and she laughing in surprised excitement. "Oh, you're a clever Hath, it's in 3D!"

He bubbled in thanks.

"So, this big silo is where everyone's marching off to?"

A burble and nod in confirmation.

"But with all those twists and turns…If we went up in a straight line on the surface, we'd get there first."

The Hath gurgled a negative, shaking his head.

"Well, why not?" Martha asked. "What's the environment up there like?"

The Hath burbled gravely, adjusting the machine in front of the two of them once more, a bar graph superimposing itself over the 3D diagram of the base and a small dinging alert going off.

"So…these are the readings for the surface?" Martha clarified, pointing at the red stats.

The Hath bubbled an affirmative, nodding his head.

"Well, it doesn't look _too_ bad. Nitrogen and oxygen are at about eighty twenty. That's fine. The ozone levels are pretty high, and there's some big radiation spikes, but as long as we're not out there too long… Can't be much worse than that clone feed."

The Hath bubble urgently in protest to this.

"We have to, Penny and I. We need to find our friends." For moment, the two of them stood there, regarding each other before Martha turned on her heel and strided over to where Penny was sitting, gaining the younger girl's attention.

"M-My ears are-are starting to ring n-now," the red head informed her in a slightly too loud voice. "St-Still can't hear." Martha nodded with a smile, giving Penny a thumbs up. This was actually some good news. The ringing was a sign that her hearing was gradually returning, it wasn't permanent like Martha had feared. The older woman beckoned for Penny to stand up and follow her, for which she complied, taking Martha's proffered hand gratefully.

The Hath watched this with a distressed air, and when the duo made to leave, he called out to gain their attention. Only Martha turned around, as only she could hear him, and she gave him a smile. Gesturing with her head, she said, "Well, come on then, the more the merrier and who better knows the tunnels than you?" The Hath was quick to join Martha and Penny as they made their way through the tunnels.

Penny was continuously craning her head this way and that way, attempting to use her eyesight to make up for her lack of hearing, but that was also beginning to change. Through the ringing, Penny could have sworn that she was hearing a sort of distorted, rhythmic thumping noise. It took her several long moments to realize that, that was the sound of their footsteps echoing loudly through the tunnels. Indistinct and imprecise though it was, she was immensely relieved for any sign that she was regaining her sense of hearing. It was one good thing, at least.

The Hath lead them to a tunnel that different from the rest, the wall made of brick instead of uncut stone. He gestured for them to go in first as he remained in the back as a rear guard. The brick tunnel didn't go far before there was a doorway that opened to a set of stairs that splintered off from the main route. Without any hesitation, Martha started running up the steps with Penny close behind, and in no time at all they were at the top.

The Hath was still standing at the threshold of the bubbling something along the lines of '_I can't do it_,' shaking his head and hands and refusal.

Channeling the confidence she had gained from her time with the Doctor and from her time at UNIT, Martha told him sternly, "You've spent your whole life in the darkness and shadows of these tunnels. Now that you have a chance to come with us and stand in the open air and feel the wind on your face, you're going to throw it all away because you have _cold feet_? You can stay here and live in fear of _your own planet_, or you can come with me and Penny to see it for the first time and stop a war. What's go to be? Make up your mind now, 'cause we can't wait, we got a war to stop and friends to find, and _nothing_ is going to stop us." With that, Martha turned back around and ushered Penny upwards to the ladder. Together, they pressed against the hatch and lifted it slowly with a creaking groan, revealing the sound of an intense wind.

The Hath made a moaning noise and began to climb up the stairs himself as Martha and Penny stood on the planet's surface. It was bitterly cold and windy, but in its own way, it projected a sort of desolate beauty. Three moons nestled in the sky, softly lighting the night sky to reveal the extensive marsh around them with foliageless trees scattered randomly. Crags could be seen in the distance, spindly and tall, but one stuck out as thicker than the rest, rounder and much wider before coming to a straight and definitive point. That was the silo, their destination.

Penny shuffled uneasily with a shiver and was breathless but was otherwise impervious to the cold, used to temperatures that could reach well below zero with a biting wind similar to this to make it seem even colder in Minnesota winters. This, however, was not as harsh, probably around forty although the wind made it seem half that much, somewhere in the lower twenties. Martha, on the other hand, was not used to colder temperatures such as Penny, London and the United Kingdom in general never getting much below zero, made temperate by the ocean's proximity, and was quick to button up her jacket.

The Hath came to stand beside them, surprising looking to be completely unaffected by the cold and wind at all, instead opting to gaze around the open space and wonder. A man of few words, though he was, was rendered completely into silence, completely speechless at the sight before him. Well, until Martha teased him a bit.

"I knew you couldn't resist!"

He bubbled what could only have been a rude remark.

"Erm…Language, there_ is_ a child present." She paused. "And even though she can't hear anything right now, it's the principle."

The Hath gave her a look.

"Come on," she muttered, grasping Penny's hand and leading them forward. "The sooner we get out of this wind, the better!"

* * *

"Who are you people?" The girl, Jenny, asked, causing the Doctor to grit his teeth. Ever since the phone call, his whole demeanor to her had chilled to a level even colder than previously. Donna had asked what was wrong, but the Doctor said nothing, just mutely handing her back the phone and brooded as the soldiers had cheered in the distance for the war that they were going to start. It had woken him out of the grieving haze he had been in just enough to regain order and push on, planning to deal with the issue of Penny's death later.

_"They're getting ready to move out," he informed Donna curtly. "We have to get past that guard."_

_"I can deal with him," Jenny volunteered, wanting to do something to gain her father's approval._

_"No," the Doctor immediately refused with a snarl. "You can stay here with the rest of the soldiers, where you belong."_

_"Doctor!" Donna cried, stunned. "You can't say that! She belongs here with us, with _you_, she's your _daughter_."_

_"She's a _soldier_. She _came_ from that _machine_," the Doctor denied vehemently._

_"Yeah, I got that bit on the account of being there!" Donna snapped back, quickly becoming irritated with the Doctor's attitude. She stuck out her hand before demanding, "Still got that stethoscope? Give it." She impatiently wiggled her fingers. "Come on, hurry up." Reluctantly, already guessing what his companion was about to do, he handed it over._

_"What's that? What're you doing?"_

_"Shh, it's alright," Donna soothed, voice gentle. "Just hold still, yeah?" After a moment, she beckoned the Doctor over. "Have a listen, Spaceman, and then you can look me in the eyes and tell me that she doesn't belong with you."_

_There were two hearts beating in a triplet-four pattern. Shakily, he pulled away, speaking hoarsely. "Two hearts."_

_"What…What's going on?" Jenny asked, starting to feel afraid._

_"And so do you! Is that proof enough to get through your thick skull of yours that she's a…What do you call a female Time Lord? A Time Lady?"_

_"What's a Time Lord?" Jenny demanded, looking between the Doctor and Donna as she defensively crossed her arms._

_"That's who I am, my species, my people, where I come from," the Doctor answered her reluctantly, moodily leaving against the wall._

_"And I'm from you," Jenny murmured breathlessly._

_Like a switch had been flicked, the Doctor stiffened. "You are nothing but an echo, a _ghost_," he spat her. "A Time Lord is so much more than just DNA. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared _suffering_." Once more the anger dimmed, now only simmering slowly beneath a guarded expression of pain. "Only it's gone now, all of it, gone forever."_

_"What happened?" Jenny asked, subdued._

_"A war."_

_"You mean…like this one?" It was starting to make sense to her now, why the Doctor had been on edge the whole time around here._

_He gave an empty laugh, his passing smile holding no warmth at all. "Bigger, so much bigger."_

_"And you fought, you killed?"_

_There was a long silence before the Doctor slowly closed his eyes, admitting, "Yes."_

**_"Then how are we different?"_**

Her question haunted him, because he couldn't find an answer. Anything she had done, he had done far worse. He was just using Penelope's death as a piss-poor excuse, and he knew it. He didn't want to risk it, that part of him had died long ago, so he had thought. It was so much easier to keep her at both a figurative and literal arms-length, safer. He wasn't a father. Hadn't been for many, many years.

So he said, "I told you, I'm the Doctor, _just _the Doctor."

"The Doctor," she repeated flatly. "That's it?"

Donna sighed, "That's all he ever says. Honestly, you'd think he'd get tired of the question 'Doctor who?' after a while."

"So, you don't have a name either?" Jenny pried. "Are you an anomaly, too?"

"No." Came the blunt answer.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Spaceman," Donna scoffed. "You're the most anomalous bloke I've ever met."

The Doctor didn't grace her with an answer, instead taking off a panel to reveal a manual switch. "Here we are."

"And Time Lords," the blond pressed. "What are they for, exactly?"

"For?" The Doctor grimaced. "They weren't…They weren't for anything, they just were."

"So what do you do?" Jenny prodded.

"I travel through time and space," he answered distantly, distracted and not seeing the satisfied smile beginning to cross Donna's face for the simple fact that the two of them were talking, holding an actual conversation.

"He saves planets," she elaborated. "Rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved. It's got me in shape, though, so I guess I can't complain too much."

Suddenly, like something out of Scooby-Doo, a large section of wall moved to reveal a doorway to what appeared to be a service tunnel. "You were saying about running?" The Doctor commented dryly as the shouting of soldiers started to become audible. Together, the three of them ran inside and through the service tunnel before coming to a stop in front of a placement of lasers that looked like something from a James Bond movie.

"That's not mood lighting, is it? Something from the disco?" Donna asked dryily as the Doctor gave her a look, tossing the clockwork mouse that he used earlier for a distraction. It soared through the air and landed one of the beams, disintegrating into an explosion of sparks. "No, I didn't think so, no disco ball."

The Doctor rolled his eyes in mild exasperation. "Arming device, I can take it down, but it'll take time." Spotting a small blue box covered in switches and knobs, he approached it and started to work. Jenny coming to stand next to him and peer over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Donna turned around to spot another plaque, this one saying '6012713.'

"There's more of these!" Donna exclaimed, pointing at it while the Doctor began to sonic the blue control box. "Always eight numbers and always counting down the closer we get!" Hurriedly, she scribbled down the new set of numbers.

"That's nice, Donna," the Doctor said absently before managing to sonic open the stubborn control box. "Ah, there we are!"

"You'd better be quick, I think I hear someone," Donna warned him.

Jenny listened closely herself before recognizing the voice. "It's the General." Suddenly, she started running toward the sound and the Doctor immediately ran after her unthinkingly. Reaching out a hand to stop her and pull her around to face him.

"And where do you think you're going?" He demanded, studying her seriously.

"I can hold them up," Jenny told him earnestly. "Be a distraction."

"No, we don't need you killing any more people," he refused, setting his jaw.

"But it's them or us," she protested.

"It doesn't mean you have to kill people like before," he told her bitterly.

"I'm trying to save your life!" Jenny exclaimed. "And since when do you care, Dad? Before you were just itching to get rid of me, insisted that 'I should be with my own kind.'"

The Doctor hesitated, mind flashing back to the two hearts her had heard beating every so fragilely in her chest, all too vulnerable and liable to stop at the penetration of bullets. "Listen to me," he began. "The killing…after a while, it infects you like a virus, a disease, and once it does, you can never get rid of it, hounding your every step."

"But…we don't have a choice," Jenny told him weakly.

"We always have a choice," the Doctor expressed, hoping that she would agree, that she would listen, that she would stay with him and Donna, and that she wouldn't go off and-

"I'm sorry," she whispered regretfully, turning around and running off once more.

"Jenny-!" He called out, reaching once more to stop her but she slipped through his grasp, gone. For a moment, a vulnerable and terrified expression crossed his face before it morphed into a hard and detached one. Inclining his head, he watched her for a moment before turning around and going back to the blue control box.

"I told you," he said flatly. "Nothing but a soldier."

"She's trying to help," Donna protested. "If you just gave her a chance-"

"That's the problem. I already did."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

**Explanations: **

* I have a picture of this new Jenny, but I haven't yet posted it on Tumblr. Might do it tomorrow of within the next week...

* The fishmen that Penny is referring to is the Hath.

* Don't worry, the deafness is only temporary. I based it off of the deafness Katniss went through in the Hunger Games. Only Penny wil get her hearing back in both ears, not to worry.

* The unknown Hath who died is going to be someone who's going to stick around in Penny's thoughts for a long while, unfortunately. It's got to be more than a little bit traumatic to have a dead person on your back. Penny's going to dislike dark red colors for a bit...

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE: **I'm A What Now?

**AUTHOR:** evilpinklollipop

**ID:** 10260014

**SUMMARY:** I'm lucky and, though not one hundred percent sure, I think I've just hit the jackpot. I don't know what the hell I did in my last life to deserve a second chance but here I was, alive and kicking. Now all I have to do is not die again.

**OPINION:** Okay, guys, I _**NEVER**_ do this, but I'm going to advertise this again, because it's really super vital that you go review this story to encourage the author. I've PM'd her, and she isn't planning to drop the story but actually hoping to update later in January. I'm hoping that the more encouraging reviews she gets, the faster she might update, so please,_** please**_ review and spam this story with attention! Please and thank you!

_**Thought Process:**_

Sorry for the short chapter. Just wanted to get this out for the New Year. :) I'll add more later, promise. Just had a super busy past few month. I was going to update on my birthday, but that didn't work out. I was going to update on Christmas, but I got too busy writing the cross over 'Living Fiction' with Emptyvoices. I actually made a trailer for it if you want to look:

/watch?v=VcDnF2_nISI

It's not professional or anything, only the second video I made in my life with editing software. Only this time instead of a class, I used a free website called 'Wevideo.' But I think I did okay, considering.

So, I added more, as promised! :D

Happy New Year,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress.

_Date Submitted: _Wednesday, December 31, 2014.

_Date Edited:_ Saturday, January 3, 2015.


	11. I Saw A Star Fall

**_All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter._**

**__**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**__**

* * *

"I gave her a chance, and I'm not inclined to give her a second one immediately after she tossed the first," the Doctor growled under his breath as he hurriedly altered the circuits in the metal box.

"Look, just because you've got a terrible case of 'Dad Shock,' that doesn't mean you go and take it out on her!"

"'Dad Shock'?" The Doctor repeated.

"Oh yeah, I've seen it loads of times back home, blokes with pushcarts and frowns. You've got it bad. Sudden and unexpected fatherhood. Takes a bit of getting used to, but avoiding it by attempting to disown 'er won't help you at all. That'll just make everything worse."

"No, Donna, it's not that," the Doctor sighed as he briefly paused in his work. The sound of weapons being fired made him scowl terribly and return to his chore with a vengeance.

"Well, what is it then? Having Jenny in the TARDIS with us? What's she goin' to do? Cramp your style by turning your sports car into a people-carrier? Bit late for that, Mate, since we picked up Penny, place is already a bit domestic."

"Donna, you don't understand, I've been a father before."

"What?" That was the last thing she ever expected him to say.

"Lost all of that a long time ago, along with everything else. When I look at her, I can see them, the hole they left, and all the pain that filled it. But when they all died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now and not for her," he told Donna resolutely. "She's a soldier, one of them from a machine, and always will be."

In the distance, seeming to confirm his statement, General Cobb could be heard shouting, "You're a child of the machine! You're one of us, on our side! Ever since we…" He went on with his speech, but Donna's voice succeeded in drowning him out.

She was furious. Quaking with her famous temper, she let him have it. "You said that you were a father, once. Was that how you treated your children then? When they did something wrong, because they haven't been properly taught about doing things the right way yet? You must've been an absolutely rubbish father if-"

"Donna," the Doctor warned. "Not another word."

She changed tactics. "You know just as well as I do right now that she's nothing more than a child, born less than a few hours ago. You mentioned before a long time ago how Time Lords were loomed or something, yeah? Well, she's just like that, except the only thing she knows is how to fight. It's time you stepped up to be a proper parent, Doctor, and teach 'er how to do things the right way, like the Spaceman who I became best mates with would."

The Doctor said nothing, mutely finishing the job and deactivating the lasers. He came to a standing position and stuffed the sonic screwdriver in his inner coat pocket before he turned to look at his companion. They sized each other up as the Time Lord considered what Donna had told, albeit shouted at, him. Coming to a decision, he called out just as the General's long-winded speech drew to a close and the shooting started up again, "Jenny, come on!"

Donna beamed. "There's my Spaceman."

"I'll give it one more go, _one_!" The Doctor told her sternly as he grabbed her hand and the two of them went running down the hallway now empty of lasers.

"You won't be…disappointed!" She puffed. "Bet you twenty quid…that you'll be…thankin' me _big_ time…when this's…this's all over."

"We'll see," was all the Doctor said before he shouted, "Jenny, leave it!" But had the gunfire moved closer? He shut his eyes, not knowing what to think. "Come on, Jenny," he muttered to himself, tense and ready to run at a moment's notice. "Come on, come on, come on…"

"That's it! Hurry up, Jenny! You can make it!" Donna's exclamation had him snapping his eyes open and watching the blonde run towards them, alive and uninjured.

"Come on," he urged quietly, having found himself relieved that she was in one piece. It almost seemed as if she was going to make it, but the lasers fizzled back into existence, nearly catching Jenny in the crossfire, leaving her stuck on the other side. "No, no, no!" The Doctor shouted, looking around hopelessly. "The circuits looped back!"

"Well, zap 'em back again!" Donna cried as the two of them jogged over to the barrier that the lasers created.

"The controls are back there!" He explained, running his hands through his hair.

"They're coming!" Jenny started to turn back in the direction of the fighting, but the Doctor moved forward in protest.

"Wait, just…" The Doctor cried, arms outstretched as if moving to stop her. She turned back to look at him and he stumbled over his words as he desperately looked around. There had to be another way…! "There isn't…" There was nothing he could do. "Jenny, I can't-"

She interrupted him tossing her gun to the wayside. "Guess I'll have to manage on my own. Watch and learn, father!" Eleven back springs and one cartwheel later, and she was standing right next to them. Her feat of gymnastics had left them stunned and joyous.

"No way," Donna breathed, astounded. "That was impossible."

The Doctor beamed. "Not impossible, just a bit unlikely." He swooped Jenny into a hug. "Brilliant, you were brilliant!"

The blonde looked so happy with the grin splitting her face, it almost appeared painful as she embraced the Doctor back just as tightly.

She didn't waste time in telling her father what she had done when he released her, in the hopes of making him taking more pride in her accomplishments. "I didn't kill him, General Cobb. I could've killed him, but I didn't! You were right, I have a choice!" The Doctor was stunned at this declaration. He had thought, had assumed that-

But then General Cobb, himself, with his platoon of soldiers appeared around the corner with shouts and weapons raised, giving credence to Jenny's words. Donna grabbed Jenny's hand and the two of them continued down the hallway while the Doctor glared coldly at the General. "I warned you, Cobb. If the Source is, in fact, a weapon, I'm going to make sure you'll be the last person to use it, that it'll be destroyed before you get your hands on it."

"If one of us is going to die today," the man hollered belligerently, completely misinterpreting the Doctor's statement, "Then it won't be me!" Immediately he started shooting at the Doctor but not one of his shots hit as the Time Lord ran after the two women.

* * *

It was slow going over the rugged landscape, the rocky ground beneath them making struggle to keep their balance. The harsh wind that was blowing straight in their faces had begun to affect the two humans in the trio, make even the more resilient of the two shiver. Martha was vaguely reminded of some of the more memorable (read: miserable) parts of her journey around the Earth during the 'Year That Never Was'. The only way this journey could possibly be more unpleasant would be if there was precipitation of some kind. With their luck, Martha mused, it would be acid rain.

Fortunately, the crags and the silo were much closer than they were previously, and the rag-tag group had just reached the peat-marshes. The hard, unstable, rocky terrain had replaced itself with soft, unstable, gravelly landscape. Which, arguably, was much worse, since more effort was expended in moving forward and maintaining an upright position. Penny was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a good night's rest, having been awake for well over a day in total, not to mention all the physical activity that she was most certainly not _used_ to.

Martha noticed the ginger beginning to fall back from walking next to her. "C'mon," she encouraged, risking a glance to just behind her. "Not much farther now we're almost-" She cut herself off with a yelp as she tripped. A jolt of fear adrenaline from the sudden motion forced Penny to automatically lunge forward and barely snag the edge of Martha's jacket. However, her grip wasn't strong enough and the fabric was yanked from between her fingers. Her yelp had turned into a shriek of fear as she fell down the pit, rolling down the steep incline.

"Martha!" Penny wailed helplessly as Peck, the Hath, bubbled in alarm beside her. The could only watch as their friend landed into the peat bog below while they fruitlessly searched for section of the pit to slide down where they wouldn't slip and meet the same fate as Martha.

"Help," she cried. "I'm sinking!"

The young woman soon gave up finding the safe section and scooted down feet first towards the bog. She ignored her skinned hands when she reached the bottom and desperately reached forward, almost falling in herself if the Hath hadn't had as strong of a grip on the back of her overalls as he did. Forcefully, he nudged Penny aside and reached forward himself, having a much longer arm-span than her. If he had attempted his rescue first instead of the human girl beside him, he might have reached Martha, but as it was, by the time he tried, she had sunk much lower and their hands were too far apart to meet.

"Please, don't leave me," she sobbed when Peck stood up, but despite what she assumed, it wasn't to facilitate his exit. He jumped into the peat bog himself and Penny tugged at her overall bib anxiously, feeling as if she wasn't getting enough air. She detected a lump in her large chest pocket and brought out the gauze that she had stored there before. She stared at it blankly for a moment before realizing that it could be of some use. Taking the two longs strips of gauze, she rip them in half and made a four-strand braid. By this time, the Hath managed to push Martha onto shore and out of the bog. Martha turned and reached but the distance proved too vast for her.

Penny grabbed her arm and shouted, "Hold onto me!" Immediately, her older friend gripped the sides of her legs and Penny lunged herself forward, tossing one end of the braided gauze to the stuck Hath. He wrapped it securely around one hand and Penny yanked hard on the makeshift rope. Martha, still gripping Penny, stood up and grabbed a hold of the rope too while keeping her arms around the younger girl.

They struggled and tugged but it did little to prevent Peck from sinking further. In fact, both of the human counterparts of the trio were beginning to be pulled in themselves, not to mention the ominous creaking sound coming from the braided gauze. It would only end in two ways, the girls would be pulled into the bog or the rope would snap. Either way, the Hath would not make it, and undoubtedly he sensed this. Peck let go of the rope while undoing the snaps to his glove that attached it to his hand. Martha noticed this and screamed in protest, "No! Don't do it! We can help you, just let us get you out, _Peck!_"

The sudden release of his weight sent Penny and Martha flying back against the wall of the pit, the gauze and glove landing next to them. "_No!_" They cried, sobbing wretchedly as their friend and savior disappeared under the surface of the peat bog. Penny buried her face in Martha's side, who held her close. The two of them were wracked by guilt, falling apart, blaming themselves for the disaster and likewise for Peck's death.

* * *

"So, you travel together, but the two of you aren't…_together_," Jenny summarized in confusion.

"What? Oh, no. No, no, no, we're just _friends_, that's all. What gave you _that_ idea? What gives _anyone_ that idea?" Donna wondered, appearing somewhere between amused and put out.

"Well, your daughter," Jenny answered as if it was obvious. "The one that was likely made the regular way since you don't have the markings on your hand. Penny, I think her name was. I mean, she had your hair and his eyes, not to mention that our names are similar-"

"Now, just wait a moment!" Donna sputtered. "She's not our daughter! We're not even distantly related! The Doctor and I aren't even the same species, I mean, there's probably laws against it or something! As for your names, that's just a coincidence, her full name is Penelope, Penny is just easier to say."

"A full name? Oh, that sounds nice," Jenny remarked thoughtfully.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're his daughter alright."

"Can I have a full name?" She asked eagerly. "Is there a long form for 'Jenny' like there is 'Penny'? Or do I have to earn the eventual adding of syllables to the base name? Is this something that only applies to females? What's your full name? Donnabella? Donatello? Donald?"

Up ahead, the Doctor snorted with laughter, shoulders shaking.

"Oh, sure, laugh it up now, Spaceman," Donna snapped, flushing with embarrassment. "Just don't expect my help when she comes to you for 'medical assistance' when the painters come in." He choked, and a smug grin found its way on Donna's face, justice having been served. "Anyway," she continued, ignoring the Doctor's disturbed expression. "These are questions that she should be asking _you_, not _me_, since she's _your _daughter. And, no, my first name is just Donna, thank you very much."

"Well," he coughed. "Time Lords when first loomed are given names from their mother and father who donated their biodata into the loom. You were correct in the idea of there being a root or base name, everyone on Gallifrey received single names. When you were old enough to join the Academy, you received a new 'official' name while attending your particular chapter, a nickname using Greek letters that identifies you uniquely. The length of a Time Lord's name, given to them after they were loomed, grew as their social and political stature increased, and the longer the name, the more power it held. Eventually, when they graduate from the academy and receive their title, they choose their new name to go by…" He paused. "I choose the 'Doctor.'" Silence descended between the trio before the Doctor continued with an offhand statement and a small smile, "A longer form of Jenny is Jennifer."

There was a stunned pause before Jenny squealed, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Excitedly, she hugged her father tightly before skipping ahead. "Come on! Let's get a move on!"

"Careful, there might be traps!" The Doctor called after her a worried frown developing on his face.

"Kids," Donna remarked. "They never listen!" Glancing at her friend, she noticed that he still looked troubled. "Hey," she murmured softly. "You really do care for her, don't you? Have you given any thought to her coming with us to see new worlds, to her staying on the TARDIS?"

His frown turned pensive as he considered her questions. "I…s'pose," he finally admitted. "I don't know if I could face her every day, seeing what I lost and could stand to lose, remembering what she…" He cut himself off, grief and guilt over Penelope's unfortunate and unnecessary death creating a lump in his throat.

"It won't stay like that," Donna soothed, setting her hand on his arm. "She'll help you. We both will."

He gave a strained smile, placing his hand on top of hers and gently squeezing it, acknowledging Donna's offer of comfort. After taking a steadying breath he said, "Yeah, and we can't exactly leave her here, can we?"

"That's the spirit," Donna encouraged.

Gun fire became audible resounding back the way they came and Jenny ran towards them, exclaiming, "They've blasted through the beams, time to start running again!" Flouncing to a stop in front of the Doctor, she asked, "Love the running, yeah?"

"Love the running," the Doctor confirmed with a small smile. Jenny beamed and started off in a sprint, this time with the Doctor and Donna directly behind her.

* * *

There was nothing we could do, we had to leave the peat bog behind and, with it, the fishman. I didn't even know this one's name either, and, yet, he sacrificed his life for us. I thought that I'd be able to save him, that the rope would be strong enough, that Martha and I working together would be able to pull him out. I was wrong. I was coming to hate being wrong.

We were more careful this time around, taking special care circumventing any pits we came across, since we didn't have another guardian angel to protect us. And, somehow, we slogged our way over to the silo, which, in closer inspection, looked more like one of the futuristic buildings straight out of Star Trek or an oil freighter that was stuck into the sand like it was the Titanic and currently sinking. It appeared to resemble nothing like a silo. Actually, if you turned your head to the side and squinted, it looked like…

…Like a really long pier for docking.

I didn't know _what_ I was trying to see in that not-silo, but the feeling that I knew what it was nagged at me.

Martha and I exchanged exhausted glances as we wiped away the last of our tears. We'd had more time to mourn after we were safely back on the TARDIS but at the moment we… what_ were_ we doing? That hadn't been explained to me either, since at the time I wasn't able hear to anything but a ringing sound. Now the ringing had faded almost completely into background noise and everything just sounded muffled, like I was underwater or had just gotten off an airplane.

Once we reached the not-silo, I leaned heavily against the structure, utterly beat. I felt like I could sleep for a week, which would probably give the Doctor no end of gratification as he had been trying to get me to sleep in longer durations prior to our trip. Suddenly, Martha grabbed my arm and pointed. A door opened slowly of its own accord. Looking at each other, we shared a nod and scampered inside, only for it to shut behind us, sealing off all escape.

Well, no going back now, I guess.

I shuddered gratefully at the warm temperature inside the not-silo, a vast change between this and the cold outside. Stumbling, I followed after Martha who had, once again, taken point, watchful and cautious. I tripped over my own feet at least twice before I was forced to sit down. It was so hard to concentrate and stay awake inside here with the comfortable temperature increase. At least outside, the cold bitter wind had a biting edge that forcibly kept me alert. But now, I was just so tired…

Martha must've noticed that I wasn't following her, because she came back and gently shook me awake. I wasn't even aware that I had fallen asleep. "Come on," she said, voice only slightly muffled now, but audible. "Just a bit further, you can do that for me, right?"

"…'Kay," I said. "Sorry, 'm just so tired."

"I know, I know, just a bit more. Come on, up we go." Despite her own weariness, she mustered enough strength to help me back to my feet. Then, with my hand clasped firmly in hers, we continued on down the winding corridor. We began to turn a corner, only for Martha to freeze. I bumped into her, since I wasn't really paying attention, just following along in a half-daze. "Doctor!" She exclaimed, jolting me into awareness with that one word. She let go of my hand and ran at him, arms wide open. He swept her up into a tight hug that lifted her off the ground.

"Martha! I should've known you wouldn't stay away from the excitement!" The Doctor grinned, finally settling her back on the ground, his back facing me.

I took a step forward and Donna noticed me first. "Penny!" She hurried over and drew me into a hug. "You're alright! Ooh, you had me worried and…" She trailed of and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, you're filthy. What happened?"

"It-It's a m-marsh outside. H-Hard to not get d-dirty," I replied.

The Doctor, who had tensed when Donna had cried out my name, whirled around to look at me with an expression like he had seen a ghost. He hurriedly strode over and gripped my shoulders tightly. "I thought…" He stammered. "I thought you were…" Speechlessly, he drew me into a bone-crushing hug that made it difficult for me to breathe and I flailed slightly before awkwardly managing to weakly pat his back. When he released me, he turned his head to glare at Martha while he kept his hand on my shoulder. "Why on Earth would you tell me that she's dead?!" He accused.

Martha balked in confusion. "What? No! I said she was _deaf!_ In the explosion, she lost her hearing. I was worried that it might be permanent, but it's gradually starting to come back."

The Doctor had the decency to look apologetic and sheepish. "Sorry, Martha. I just…I couldn't be sure that either of you had survived until you called and… Well, there's no excuse for that. I'm so sorry. Can't believe I could be so _thick-!_" Suddenly, everyone turned to look down the way that the Doctor, Donna, and Jenny had come from, apparently hearing something that I couldn't quite discern. "That would be the General," the Doctor hissed. "We haven't got much time…"

"But we don't even know what we're lookin' for!" Donna cried.

Martha let out a small sniff and asked, "Hey… do you smell that? Reminds me of flowers."

I paused to sniff too and faintly I caught the sweet scent. Something that I hadn't noticed earlier until Martha had brought my attention to it.

The Doctor frowned. "Yes, that's…Bougainvillea, I believe. 'If in doubt, always follow your nose.'" Then he grabbed my hand firmly and we were running with Martha, Jenny, and Donna close behind. Down the corridor, up the stairs bathed in green light, and into the…jungle? There were plants everywhere, palm trees, bamboo, exotic and alien flowers. We had stepped into what seemed like a ginormous green house. As I looked around in awe, trying to take in everything at once while walking alongside the Doctor, my vision…shifted slightly.

We were still in the greenhouse, but I saw the vague outlines of eight or so people. As clear as day, I could hear them speaking in my mind, while the Doctor next to me still sounded muffled as he exclaimed in amazement, "Oh, yes! Yes! Isn't this brilliant?"

_"This is a galaxy class ship. Goes for years between planet falls. So, what do they need?" _A man prompted. I vaguely recognized his voice, but I couldn't remember where it was from.

A woman answered, _"They need to breathe."_

There was a pause before another woman cried out in shock, _"But that's a…that's a…"_

_"That is an oxygen factory,"_ the first woman finished.

_"It's a forest!"_ Woman two finally got out.

_"Yeah, it's a forest,"_ Woman one mock-agreed before empathizing in exasperation, _"It's an _oxygen factory_."_

_"But trees…on a _space ship_!"_

_"Oh, more than trees, way better than just trees. You're going to love this, they're treeborgs! Trees plus technology. Branches become cables which become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight and breathing out air. It even rains! There's a whole mini-climate here. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet?"_

"An ecopod…?" I murmured out loud, causing the Doctor to glance back at me in surprise.

"Not exactly," he corrected, his voice wasn't muffled anymore and I looked up in surprise. "But a good guess…more than good." He frowned in thought as I looked around to where the shadowed forms of the people had been. They were gone. The vision must have faded when I looked away.

The Doctor let go of my hand to take off his coat when we came to a stop in front of what looked a tiny exploding star contained in a glass orb the size of the large globe of the world in my History class. It was settled on top of a metal stand with a blue center. The Doctor tossed his coat on a railing nearby what appeared to be a computer that was likely monitoring the tiny galaxy. Enthralled, I stepped closer, gazing inside at the ever shifting micro-star.

"It's beautiful!" Jenny exclaimed, coming to stand next to me. I wordlessly agreed with her as I watched it explode, shrink, expand, and waver. It was almost like watching the fire in a bonfire pit or a lava lamp: unpredictable, ever changing, and utterly hypnotizing to gaze at.

"It's…um…" The Doctor cocked his head slightly to consider it. "A third-generation terraforming device…"

"So, why are we suddenly in Hue Gardens?" Donna asked.

"Well, that's what it's meant to do. It's rather similar to the one in the garden on the TARDIS. Creates and sustains life. Except this one is capable of all this and much, much more. It's in a transit state, right now. Likely creating all of this must keep it stable until they-"

Doors opening and the sounds of marching feet interrupted the Doctor, as the fishmen carrying their guns and the humans carrying all of their weapons suddenly raced inside. The guns were cocked and aimed, but before anyone could start firing, the Doctor shouted, "Stop!" Holding out his arms as if to will both sides into not pulling the trigger. "Hold your fire!"

"What is this, some kind of Hath trap concocted by you sympathizers?!" The grizzly looking man demanded.

_'Hath?'_ I wondered before I looked over at the fishmen. _Does he mean them?_

"I thought you wanted this war over-" The Doctor began only to be interrupted.

"I want this war _won!_" Grizzly man barked.

"You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers," the Doctor whirled around, looking at everyone, attempting to gain their attention, which seemed to be working as no one fired. "Getting _more distorted_ the _more_ it's passed on… _This_," the Doctor shouted before gesturing to the exploding micro-star with both hands, "Is the Source. _This_ is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical, it's from a _laboratory_, not some _creator_. It's a bubble of gases." He stood up straight, beginning to pace around confidently as he continued to monologue. "A _cocktail_ of… _stuff_ for accelerated evolution."

Taking a deep breathe, he spat out the names of the main ingredients so fast that it was hard to keep up, "Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids; it's _used_ to make barren planets habitable." The Doctor, once again, took stock of his captive audience. He spoke more calmly, no longer shouting now but, instead, imploring them, "Look around you… It's not for killing, it's for bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight… No more fighting. No more killing."

I was moved by his speech, starting to feel hopeful. No one had to die any more in this war. They could really have a chance start over and the violence could be at an end. The Doctor looked around him, breathing hard, before he picked up the Source, detaching it from the stand and making it hiss from released pressure. "I. Am. The Doctor," he shouted. "And I declare, that this war is _over!_"

He hurtled the glass containing holding the source at the ground where it shattered into a million pieces. A bright golden light flowed and ebbed around the container before slowly floating upwards, flashing mixtures of orange, yellow, green, and white, looking much like a rising phoenix. I watched in awe, feeling tingles spread throughout my body. It was so beautiful, and I wondered if this is was it first looked like when God had declared, '_Let there be Light_.' For a moment, I could almost hear the Song; that Song of the Universe through the whispering hiss of the Source as it floated past me.

I hardly noticed when the soldiers began to lower their weapons and place them on the floor, just as moved by the scene as I was. Likely even more so, as they didn't have anything to compare it to, death being the only thing they ever really knew.

"What's happening?" Jenny asked, coming to stand next to the Doctor.

"The gases will escape," the Doctor began, gazing upwards at the glorious sight above us. "…and triggering the terraforming process."

Jenny frowned, confused. "What does that mean?" She queried.

And the Doctor looked at his daughter, his face transforming into the happiest expression I've ever seen on his face. "It means a new world," he told her, beaming.

And for a moment. For one, shining moment, I actually believed everything would be alright.

But I had forgotten what happened next. What had always happened next.

"No!" Jenny cried, stepping forward in front of the Doctor, her father, as the shot was fired. She gasped and clutched at her chest and the Doctor caught her. Everything seemed to freeze and hold its breath, like the calm before the storm… And then her legs gave out from underneath her and she fell to the ground, the Doctor slowing her descent as he went down with her.

"Jenny? Jennifer! Talk to me, say something," he pleaded as Martha and Donna lunged forward, kneeling on the ground beside the pair. Martha reached out and checked Jenny's pulse before gently moving the girl's hand that still rested on her chest. She saw something that made her lean back, Donna following her. They got up and came to stand next to me as they made room for the father and his daughter to have privacy.

"Is she…Is she going to be alright?" Donna asked tentatively.

Martha shook her head, unable to bear saying the words aloud.

I was frozen by my spot by the pedestal that the Source had once rested, unable to do anything but watch as the scene unfolded in front of me. The two of them were speaking too quietly for me to hear, but I didn't need to be right next to them to know what was said.

I didn't need to be right next to them to know when she died.

I didn't need to be right next to them to see the look on the Doctor's face.

He turned to face us, a wild look of desperation on his face, his voice so quiet as to be barely heard, "Two hearts. Two hearts, she's like me. If we wait... If we just wait..."

Martha began to shake her head, but I couldn't be silenced any longer, couldn't take the look on his face anymore. Words spewed out faster than I could control them, "She won't regenerate, but-but the Source… s-something happens. It-It takes a wh-while, hours, I think, but-but she doesn't stay dead. Sh-She comes back. I promise. She… She would've left b-by herself, come back alive after y-you had left. You…You wouldn't have known. You would've thought that she…that she was really dead."

So many expressions crossed the Doctor's face: hope, doubt, relief, fear, and, most prominently, anger. Planting a kiss on Jenny's forehead, he gently settled her on the ground, as if she was only sleeping, before he stood up, his back facing all of us. I shivered, almost able to sense the righteous anger rolling off of him in waves. He turned around and the look on his face made me freeze in terror, even if it wasn't even remotely directed at me. He stormed over to the grizzly man, the one who had shot Jenny in the first place. He picked up that very same gun, cocked it, and aimed it at the shooters head, resting the barrel directly on his temple, like some sick form of poetic justice.

Unable to bare watching, horrified and scared by the grimness in his expression, I turned around and buried my face in Martha's shoulder. A long, tense silence had passed but no shots had been fired. I nearly faced him but quickly hid again once I heard his voice, a voice so cold and measured that it sent icy jolts of fear through my body. "I never would… Have you got that? I. Never. Would." There was a sound of the gun being forcibly thrown on the ground and I jumped, heart pounding in fear as the Doctor raised his voice, "When you start this new world, this world of Human and Hath... _remember that!_ Make the foundation of this society: _A man who never would!_"

His voice echoed through the room, no one dared to breathe a word.

I heard him walk past us and over Martha's shoulder, I saw him slowly sink down to a cross-legged position beside Jenny as to watch her form intently for any signs of life. Waiting for my promise to hopefully come true.

* * *

After that, things were being settled and a new order emerged. Currently, the soldier boy from the beginning, Clive, and the fishman I perceived to be in charge of the Hath stepped up to be the leaders of the new society. Grizzly man, once known as General Cobb, was led to the brig and locked up there for murder, as not all were convinced that Jenny would come back alive.

Like in the show, Jenny was taken over to the theatre that once served at the Human encampment. She's was laid out on a cot on the stage instead of a table, but it was still in the same position, somewhere near the front and center of the stage. The Doctor had insisted on being the one to carry her and refused to leave her side as she was set down on the cot that he insisted be used. "No reason for her to be uncomfortable. It was painful enough as it was being shot. I should know, since it happened to me a quite a few times before."

Several long minutes past but then light was shed through the windows. The first bit of actual sunlight that this world had seen. The glow filtered through the room and a large ray of it rested on Jenny's face and torso. Illuminating her prettily and bathing her face in soft luminescence. "It's happening," Martha murmured. "The terraforming."

Donna looked up at the window, at the light coming in. "Build a city, nice and safe underground. Strip away the top soil. And there it is," she said before her eyes once again landed on the unresponsive blond in front of us. "And what about Jenny?"

I felt everyone's eyes on me, since it was my assertion of Jenny not staying dead, but despite my shyness and wanting to hide under a rock or become a wallflower again, I remained firm with my promise. The Doctor needed this, he really, truly needed this one thing. I wouldn't be the one to take it away from him. "We need to wait," I told them. "Just… Just wait."

And so we did.

Never have I ever had this much resting on my shoulders before, the happiness of a person completely dependent on my being right. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to be right before either. The utter relief of the burden disappearing when Jenny sighed and breathed out that same golden green light. Like before, I could faintly hear the Song through her sigh before the light dissipated and vanished, taking the Song along with it.

Everyone leaned forward in anticipation, and Jenny let out a gasp, her eyes snapping open. And just like when we first met her, she smiled and said, "Hello, Dad."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_**Explanations:**_

***** I actually have no idea what the breaking point of gauze is, or how much it's increased by making it into a four strand braid. So I'm asking you to temporary suspend your disbelief, please.

***** Yes, I just had Jenny renamed Jennifer while simultaneously answering the unspoken question of whether or not the people born from the machine know where babies come from.

***** Everything the Doctor said about Gallifreyan names is true. You can find out more on the site 'Rassilon, Omega, and That Other Guy.'

***** The vision Penny had seen was based off of this video on YouTube: /watch?v=tt2qF60KZJU

***** You didn't really think that Penny would let the Doctor believe that his daughter was dead, did you? Unfortunately, though, there will be consequences and a massive butterfly effect from this one change. Suck it.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE:** Taken With a pitch of Salt

**AUTHOR:** doctorchan80

**ID:** 10212678

**SUMMARY:** This story includes clichés such as: OC from alternate universe that has Doctor Who show arrives mysteriously and changes events, OC whose looks/species change by entering the Doctor's universe, OC TimeLady/OC who doesn't know she is a TimeLady, OC who somehow ends up 'with' the Doctor despite that not being her intention, clueless OC and OC with low self-esteem.

**OPINION:** All of the above mentioned tropes were mastered wonderfully. I didn't feel like I was being hit in the face with that metaphorical brick, but it was apparent enough, that I felt that it was decently enough addressed. The OC gives a bit of a jaded and dreamy feel, vaguely reminiscent of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series. She has a surprisingly sharp wit for her image that she seems to project, but it's a nice touch and not too out of there. Her fear and portrayal of Rose is a bit of a surprise to me, but not too over-bearing. I'm personally fine with Rose as a companion, but her view point isn't offensive to me since she only mentions it in passing and there has a few run ins where her view point is supported. The diction is above-par for the course with most fan fiction writers and is extremely refreshing. With the tone set and the speed of the story, it's easy to relax and flow along with the chapter.

* * *

**TITLE: **Saving Keith: Traveling with Death

**AUTHOR:** LePugly

**ID:** 9970729

**SUMMARY:** Katelyn just diagnosed with lymphoma(cancer) felt her whole world falling apart. But after a strange man visits her in the hospital giving her a strange locket, that causes her to jump through the past and future of a Time Lord that seems to know her all to well. ((Kate/Doctor slight Kate/Captain Jack))

**OPINION:** A completely new take on the dead-beat horse, we have the OC struggling through cancer as well as the usually confusion of jumping through the Doctor's time line. I fell in love with the OC within the first few chapters, how she didn't immediate accept the situation and how, even better, she hadn't been a Whovian from our universe previously. It's nice to see her life from home intersect with life with the Doctor and meet other OCs from her life and not have them dumped to the wayside or forgotten like in most fan fictions. (Also, bonus points for the countless references to other fandoms besides just Doctor Who.)

* * *

**_Thought Processes:_**

Ah, it's been a while and I have only a short chapter to offer as penance, I'm really very sorry. This was just the chapter that didn't want to be written. You can thank my lovely beta _emptyvoices_ for being such a big help by going through, likely painful, corrections and edits!

Not to worry, the next chapter should be much easy since I have no restrictions of an episode of follow besides dropping Martha and the rest can be all original, thank the Lord. Most likely domestics and a bit of 'getting to know you' before we head over into the world of Agatha Christie. A small bit of angst should be expected, as we find out what has happened with Ross now that the polls closed, but for the most part it'll be fluffy goodness.

Also, in recent news, A FAVORITE AUTHOR OF MINE READ THIS STORY! *Hyperventilates* She only followed my story, but just that was enough to make do a fist-pump and loudly say, "YES! WIN!" ...In a public area. I just got so excited. Grinning like mad.

Anyway, I advertised and I **STRONGLY ENCOURAGE** that you go to her story:_ 'Saving Keith: Traveling With Death.'_

So, you also may have notice I did another story and it has the name 'Penny Carter' in the description. **WARNING:** It isn't related to this story at all. '_Rules'_ was something I came up with long before this story was even a thought. I had gotten the idea after reading 'A Writer's Tale.' One of you reviewers have already astutely guessed that this Penelope was named after the almost companion in _'Partner's in Crime._' You were half right. '_Rules_' is a story based off of all the information provided about the first Penny Carter, the Donna-esque character that Russell T. Davies created to be the new companion and the Doctor's new love interest before Catherine Tate signed on for another go as Donna Noble. Basically, it's Season 4 redone.

But that's one of the last things on my priority, just so you know. It's not abandoned, per se, just expect very few updates.

Also, also, wish me luck. I've been working at Target now for the past few months and there's news that they're letting people go. Cross you fingers and pray that I'll keep my job, please! I'll need all the help I can get...

Anyway, I can't wait for the episode 'Midnight,' that's when things finally start moving forward. Although, there's lots of lovely foreshadowing in all the Library episodes and you guys finally get to meet Ashley! :D

If you have been reading any of my author's notes, you'll have noticed that I've been mentioning her quite a lot! I wouldn't ever be surprised if some of you guys already have theories on who she could be... Do you guys have any idea who she could be? I'll take guesses, closest one to it gets a mention and a cameo!

Anyway, super long author's note, sorry.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Friday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress.

_Date Submitted:_ Friday, February 13, 2015.


	12. And Found Something Worth Living For

**All translations, explanations, advertisements, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.**

_**Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.**_

* * *

**Sorry about the reposting of the Chapter, Fan Fiction acted up again. Check out the Author's note section!**

* * *

While Martha was aware that Penny, sort of, knew the future, it hadn't really stuck just how much it was true until Jenny sat up in the cot and hopped off of it, if her wide-eyed stare at the red head was any indicator. Penny flushed with embarrassment from the sudden influx of the astonished and amazed attention being directed at her. She wanted to hide.

The Doctor, meanwhile, had swept his daughter into a huge bear hug, burying his face in her hair. "I thought I had lost you," he choked out before withdrawing and telling her sternly, "Don't do that again!"

"Be more careful then!" She retorted with a grin, pulling him back into a tight hug. "You didn't leave me!" She exclaimed happily. "I wasn't sure if you would stay if you thought I was dead… Actually, why am I not dead?"

The Doctor didn't seem pleased with her flippant response to her own, temporary, demise, but nonetheless allowed the subject to change. "The myths about the Source might not have been too far off. The 'Breath of Life,' indeed." He mused. "I s'pose since you were in close proximity to the initial disbursement of the terraforming compound, you may have inhaled enough of the condensed gas into your system to act together with your latent Time Lord biology to spark the partial-regeneration… Likely the Source was able to combine with the artron energy in your system to synthesize enough of the Lindos hormones to prompt your healing, but not enough for a complete regeneration that would cause any outward change in appearance… I would have to do some scans in the medbay to find out for certain."

Jenny wrinkled her nose slightly at the idea of being cooped up in the TARDIS sickbay when there was so much that she wanted to do already! However, she didn't offer any protest, intuitively understanding that this was the Doctor's way of coping with the idea of his near-loss, that he just wanted to be sure of her continued wellbeing. Farewells were given and soon the time travelers and their new friend entered the TARDIS.

The moment the TARDIS door shut behind them, the Doctor asked Martha, "Time to go home? Maybe we have time for one last hurrah…? Eh?" His expression was hopeful, so much had happened in the span of forty-eight hours for him, that, at this point, anything seemed possible. His attempt at humor played on the valid point that they were on a time machine and, technically, had all the time in the world, but Martha could not be swayed.

She shook her head. "I can't, Doctor. One more trip will lead to two more trips and then three… I've stopped running a while ago and found an adventure of my own, besides…" She smiled at him, eyes twinkling with happiness for her friend. "Looks like you've got an adventure of your own that's just starting to begin…" The woman didn't need to specify what the Time Lord's next venture was.

He returned her smile with an enthusiastic one of his own. "Quite right!" He exclaimed merrily. "To Earth then!"

Quite soon, the five of them opened the door of the TARDIS to reveal UNIT headquarters. "Oh, you'll take care of yourself, won't you?" Donna fretted over her new friend before asking once more, "Are you sure we can't change your mind?"

"I will," Martha promised as she gazed at the Doctor, who was talking quietly with Jenny who was looking around herself in curiosity and awe with Penny alternating between watching the two Time Lords and the two companions. Penny noticed Martha's gaze and waved, she waved back before answering Donna's second question, "And, yeah, I'm positive. I'm a bit burnt out… I can't do this anymore. You'll understand some day, Donna. Eventually, we all move on and start adventures of our own."

Donna laughed. "I already tried that, Mate, a long time ago, regretted every moment of it. I realized a long time ago that I could never go back to a normal life. Not after seeing all of this!" She, too, looked back, this time the Doctor had included Penny into the conversation between himself and Jenny, the young girl shyly joining in as Jenny talked to her animatedly. "I'm going to travel with that man forever. _Someone's_ got to keep him in line, and it's sure not going to be Penny!"

Both women give each other a hug before bidding farewells and exchanging good luck wishes. The Doctor excused himself from his two captive listeners as Donna started walking over, taking his place in keeping the two girls occupied. All three of them wave at Martha one final time before going inside the TARDIS. Martha waved back, if a little belatedly, as the Doctor stood up to her. The two of them start walking down the halls, ignoring the curious looks that the occasional UNIT soldier gives them as the two old friends walk by.

"We're making a habit of this," the Doctor noted as he idly glanced around his surroundings and at Martha.

"Yeah, and you'd think it would be easier each time…" She paused before saying rather shrewdly, "All those times you had something that you were ready to die for… Now, finally, I'm glad to see you have something worth living for."

"Oh, Martha Jones, there's always something worth living for," the Doctor half-heartedly chided, because Martha was right, perceptive as always. Abruptly, he asked, "Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"

"Not enough!" Martha teased, laughing. They came to a fork in the hallway and stopped, giving each other a hug. "Bye, Doctor."

"Goodbye, Doctor Jones." And they split ways. The Doctor going to the right while Martha went to the left, neither looking back. The Time Lord didn't go back to the TARDIS quite yet, having some unfinished business to take care of while he was still on Earth at UNIT headquarters. Normally, he would have dropped Martha at her house, but he thought that he might as well hit two birds with one stone and come to UNIT headquarters.

Finding an empty office, the Doctor entered through the open door and commandeered the computer on the desk. After sonicking his way through the securities blocking him access, the Doctor's fingers flied over the keyboard, typing away madly as he perused the classified files stored on it. After about forty-eight seconds, the Doctor found the information he wanted and grimaced.

Ross Jenkins, Greyhound Forty, had been retired early on account of his arm being completely disabled, likely permanently. He was going through physical therapy, but the prognosis was bleak at best. The most he likely would be able to do for UNIT, if anything, was something administrative, his soldiering days over.

The Doctor pursed his lips, feeling guilt stab at him. He knew that logically there was probably very little he could have done to prevent this, that things could have been far worse for Ross, but the Time Lord couldn't help but feel responsible for him. But he could at least do this much for him. The Doctor dug in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets and brought out his cell phone. He eyed it nostalgically, it reminding him of Martha who give it to him in the first place, before he called the Brigadier for a small favor…

* * *

I woke up from a fitful sleep and stretched lazily, feeling better than I had for a long while. I sighed contently; I had slept a lot more than usual, my whole body felt sluggish. I slowly moved onto my belly, but made no move to get up, weak from the excess sleep and content to just lay there on my bed.

After we gave our goodbyes to Martha, the Doctor had taken both Jenny and I into the medbay. He had her sit down on a bed and moved a large device over, calling it an ADT when she asked what it was. Something that gave a full body scan that was a lot more accurate than his sonic screwdriver, or so he said. After the Doctor had gotten Jenny set up under the scanner and had turned it on, he walked over to the cabinets on the far wall, bring out some tools.

Setting them on a wheely-tray, he came over next to me with in and sat in a nearby chair with Jenny looking on in interest in the next right behind him. He brought a device close to my right ear and pressed it close to my head before it made a low chirp and small click. He brought it away and flipped it over sideways, the flat part horizontal instead of vertical. A weird, 3D image popped up, looking like a tunnel or a map of a cave. The Doctor slipped on his glasses and studied it momentarily while Donna came over from her spot by the door to take a seat by me on the bed.

"And what's _that_ supposed to be?" She asked, leaning forward slightly to get a good look at the green hologram.

"Penelope's ear canal, of course! Her hearing may have come back, but that doesn't mean that she's completely healed. There might be some internal damage that Martha might not have been able to detect without her medical tools. Doesn't hurt to be thorough… Oh, well, that explains it…" The Doctor hummed to himself thoughtfully.

"Wh-What is it?" I asked, voice shaking.

"There appears to be a perforation in the tympanic membrane. Just a small tear, thankfully. Appears that the only reason your hearing came back so quick was because some of the blood clotted around the tear to seal it… Unfortunately, it can't remain that way unless we want to run a risk of infection, which we decidedly do _not_…" The Time Lord pursed his lips. "I suspect your other ear to be much the same. Nothing for it, I s'pose. Going to have to clean it before sealing it myself. I'm sorry, Penny, this is going to be a bit uncomfortable…"

He turned to the side and grabbed an ear syringe that was prefilled with a mineral oil. Instructing me to turn my head to the side, he stuck it firmly in my ear while his free hand gripped my chin gently to hold me in place. He injected the solution with a steady pressure, causing me to squirm and let out a whimper in protest. "Sorry, sorry…" He murmured faintly but didn't stop. Removing the syringe, he had me hold a cloth up to the offended ear and tilt my head sideways on the same side until it almost touched my shoulder. The draining fluid tickled and felt strange, not to mention my hearing in that ear was gone now.

The Doctor told me not to worry and that he would fix it after it finished draining in a moment or two. Meanwhile, he turned to Jenny, reading the results of the scan. He grinned, crooning, "A perfectly healthy Time Lady. By this scan, you're estimated to be around one hundred and ten years old, just after your first maturation, which means you're body is that of an adult for the most part. Wouldn't be considered a legal adult in Time Lord Society until after the second one at around two hundred and twenty years old, which would be when the brain finishes developing and the hormones settle. Reason why you didn't regenerate, now that I'm looking at your bio-scan, is because your ability to produce the hormones and biogenic molecules necessary hasn't been unlocked yet, even though it should have at this stage of growth. The level of Lindos in your thyroid is too little to trigger a proper regeneration… In this sense, you're a bit stunted, but I'm frankly unsurprised."

"Er, why not?" Jenny asked.

"The progeneration machine was designed specifically for humans, not Time Lords, some complications were to be expected," the Doctor admitted. "It was a very good thing that you inhaled some of the terraforming compound in the amount you did. It was just enough to mimic the energy and hormones necessary for a partial regeneration, but without the proper amount of Lindos in your system, a full regeneration wouldn't be possible, which is why you look exactly the same."

"You keep mentioning it, what's a regeneration, exactly? Why would I look different?" The blonde queried.

With a glint in his eyes and only too happy to answer, the Doctor explained as he set about the finishing touches of cleaning out my ear. "Time Lords have self-replicating biogenic molecules that work ceaselessly to repair and prune damaged and malformed cells. They are a variation of symbiotic nuclei and, using sonic waves, give Time Lords a symbiotic, self-renewing cell structure, which can be used to govern regeneration." He paused for a moment to direct me to stick out my tongue, to which he placed a blue, flavorless strip that dissolved immediately after I closed my mouth.

He kept a close eye on his watch, waiting as he continued his explanation, "If the body is subjected to great stress, the Limbic Gland in the thyroid releases the hormone Lindos to trigger regeneration. At this point, the biogenic molecules heal the body before regeneration proceeds onto the second phase where the body and, to a lesser extent, the personality will be completely restructured. When a regeneration does occur, the biogenic molecules rebuild the body in a violent biological eruption of Artron energy. Using this energy, every molecule in every cell is adjusted, displaced, and rearranged. A bit like how the personality traits will be altered. The fundamental, or base, personality will remain the same, but the balance of said traits gets rearranged differently. The new personality of the Time Lord will merely be expressing a different aspect of their base personality, which for the most part remains unchanged throughout all their lives…"

By this point, my face was numb, and the Doctor seemed to decide that an acceptable amount of time had passed. He picture up the device that was still displaying a hologram of my ear and placed it on the side of my head again. "Donna, could you hold that there for me? …Thank you."

"You're welcome," Donna said automatically before frowning. "I hope you realize that none of us understood a word of what you just said."

Looking a bit put out by Donna's blunt observation, he sighed in a long-suffering manner before explaining simply, "Basically, regeneration is a complex biological process where Time Lords renew themselves, causing a complete physical and often personality change. There's a genetic equivalent of bit errors in the DNA of the regenerating cells that will cause a change in appearance, height, mass, or apparent age."

"See? That wasn't so hard," Donna teased.

"Not so much hard as extremely difficult," the Doctor whined. "Even the first attempt at explanation had the interest bits missing, the second was only a short definition."

"A definition was really all we were asking for."

"Well, I _did _say 'exactly'," Jenny offered. "I was encouraging Dad to give the longer description… I just didn't realize how long it would be..."

"Oh, he doesn't need much encouragement. You'd be surprise how far noncommittal noises and a few nods goes with him when he's going off on one of his whirlwind lectures."

He gave then a mock-indignant expression before dramatically upturning his nose and getting back to messing with the tools on the wheely-tray with a sniff. "I'll have you know that my 'whirlwind' lectures are usually very interesting, 's not _my_ fault you don't appreciate them." With that, the Doctor took one of the metal tools and inserted it into my ear while keeping his eyes trained on the hologram which he used to monitor his progress.

"Wh-What are you d-doing?" I asked apprehensively, worrying my lower lip.

"I'm inserting a gelfoam patch onto your eardrum," he answered before explaining, "I'm repairing your eardrum and about to irritate the edges of the perforation; that is, the hole; on the thin membrane and then use a small gelfoam patch to cover it. As soon as that is applied, I will be sealing it together with a mild growth stimulant. Simple myringoplasty." Finished with his explanation, the Doctor returned his full attention to the task at hand. I didn't feel a thing, thanks to that numbing strip that he had given me earlier. I wondered if doing this would have hurt otherwise without the quick-dissolving medication. The whole process took only a few minutes on that ear to complete before the Doctor moved to go onto my other ear.

"D-Doctor," I hedged, starting to feel the vague stirrings of panic. "The my-myringo… _myringoplasty_ didn't work. I-I still can't h-hear in that ear any-anymore."

"Don't worry, Penelope, that was my doing," he confessed. "I put a pressure-equalizing tube in there to prevent an impromptu rupture while the fragile membrane is still healing. It can be taken off in about eighteen hours. At that point, all repair work should be complete; I'll remove the tubes and make sure everything healed properly. Until then though…" The Doctor looked apologetic. "_Well_, you won't be able to hear a thing." At my fearful expression and Donna's own alarmed look, he held up his hands as if to ward us off. "It's only temporary," he assured us. "Your ears will be as right as rain in about seventeen hours and fifty-eight minutes. Well, this ear, anyway; haven't got started on the other yet…"

And soon, my hearing was gone completely as my other ear was now draining out the same mineral oil that the Doctor put in my other ear to clean all the gunk out, namely blood and earwax. Yuck!

I watched the Doctor as he talked with Donna and Jenny. His smile was huge, as if he could hardly contain himself. He still seemed somewhat unsure of how to treat Jenny exactly, currently going somewhere between companion and family but leaning a bit more towards the companion side at the moment. Thank goodness, the hesitation, which was already pretty vague and fading, gradually disappeared entirely as he got into the conversation; Jenny, fortunately, didn't seem to notice it. Sometimes she would say something and the bemused light would return to his eyes briefly before Donna would say something distracting and the look would be gone.

To see the Doctor even partially out of his element was strange, considering how he seemed to be so at ease and unflappable in much more complicated situations, from what I remembered from the show. It was kind of funny but also a bit sad that he didn't know how to go from here concerning Jenny. He hid the fact that he was at a loss really, really well. Maybe if I wasn't as familiar with Ten's face from the show and the various drawings of this regeneration I used to do, it would have been harder for me to notice, assuming that I would have noticed at all.

The Doctor eventually finished patching up my other ear and said something to me. I looked at him rather helplessly and gave a feeble shrug. Donna then said something to him, her expression chiding and extremely amused, and the Doctor looked sheepish as Jenny held back giggles. Digging in his pocket, he brought out a black leather wallet which contained the psychic paper.

_**Ah, here were go. Sorry about that. **_

_**Slipped my mind for a moment about your temporary deafness. **_

_**I asked if you wanted to join us in finding Jennifer's new room on the TARDIS… **_

…_**or if you wanted to go rest instead. **_

_**You look absolutely knackered.**_

I watched the neat scrawl of what had to be the Doctor's impeccable handwriting as it wrote itself on the paper no faster or slower than I could read, before it disappeared and was replaced with the next line when more room was needed. I was surprised with how neat and precise his cursive was. I kind of expected it to be messy for some reason. Whether it was because of the stereotype that all doctors write almost illegibly or rather that it was a popular head cannon amongst all whovians was hard to tell, but it hardly mattered anymore.

"_I would like to go to sleep, if that's okay_," I think I told him, easily finding the exhaustion that had been continuously tugging the frayed edges of my mind. I was at the point of being over tired. He nodded to show he understood before turning to Jenny and declaring something, making a broad gesture to the medbay door. She grinned and the two of them talk animatedly as they made to leave the room. Donna touched me shoulder to gain my attention.

She was either speaking very slowly or exaggeratedly mouthing the words as she mimed what she was planning to do. "_I… Go… Doctor…Jenny… Room… Okay?_"

Despite myself, I giggled hysterically at the game of charades that she was attempting. "_Okay_," I think I managed to say. From there we split ways and I collapsed in my bed, too tired to do much of anything else when I reached my room.

Now that I was awake, hours later, I was more than ready to take the long awaited shower. My eardrums must've been healed at this point, I felt, since I could hear what was going on around me, if for the most part muffled by the tube-things that the Doctor had put in my ears to protect my eardrums while they healed. I had forgotten, about the glove tangled up in the gauze in my large overall pocket. The lump in my throat hurt while I stared and _stared_ at it after it tumbled to the floor when I picked up my dirty clothes. Trembling, I picked it up and gently pulled off all the gauze from the glove, the Fish-man's glove.

"I… I don't know if I… if I can do this," I murmured, attempting to blink away my tears. Somehow, I knew. I just _knew_ what the metal label would say in my little loft next to the space where Luke's racket was. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten him, the fishman. He was the second person that couldn't save. I understood that there was likely little that I could've done to help him in the first place, since he has died anyway in the show, but the sense of failure stayed with me stubbornly. I didn't know if I wanted to keep going on these trips if people kept getting hurt and killed. But that meant staying on the TARDIS for the rest of my life, and I didn't want to do that either.

Morosely, I took the glove to my shelf-room after I changed into a flared jean skirt, a soft pink oversized sweater, and white tights. I wandered quietly down the hallway and found the loft waiting for me. Biting my lip, I entered and saw that I was right, that a space had been made for the glove, the once half-filled plaque complete completely filled, "_**Peck's Glove: The Doctor's Daughter**_." I didn't even have to look at the next label to know what it said as I reverently placed the fishman… _Peck's_ glove on the shelf.

I didn't much like the idea of a giant killer wasp.

* * *

"Oh, hello, Penelope!" Jenny chirped when I walked into the kitchen, startling me.

"H-Hi," I greeted after I managed to calm down my heart which was stuttering as much as my words. "S-Sorry, I…I was surprised."

She waved my apology off as her munched on an unidentifiable food. It looked like a fruit, but I couldn't be for sure. Feeling self-conscious as her eyes tracked me across the room, I pulled down a tea kettle and began to fill it with water. My back was to her and I didn't notice as she came up behind me while I waited for the kettle to get half full. I jumped again as she asked directly behind me, "Oh, are you making tea? Can you show me? …I'm sorry, I surprised you again, didn't I?"

"It-It's fine," I murmured sheepishly. "But-But I'm not actually m-making tea. I'm…I'm boiling wa-water for c-coffee. I can sh-show you if you want?"

"What's coffee?" Came the immediate question, Jenny's blue eyes peering curiously at me as I fumbled to turn off the faucet.

"Um, it's… It's kind of like t-tea, except it's m-made out of the br-brew of grounded b-beans instead of leaves. It's b-b-bitter if you d-don't add sugar or-or cream to it," I offered. Somehow, though, I had a feeling that a large majority of tea drinkers would be upset with my humble explanation. I placed the kettle on the stove and turned it on high. "T-To be honest, I'm n-not good at m-making tea," I admitted. "N-Not unless it c-comes in little tea b-bags."

"Donna makes really good tea, the best I've ever had!" Jenny paused before cheekily grinning and whispering to me conspiratorially, "Well, _actually_, it's the only tea I've ever had, so I don't know if that's true or not yet, but you didn't hear it from me!"

I let out a small giggle, biting my lip as I tried not to grin too widely but ultimately failed, my smile splitting across my face. I was too short to reach the bag of ground coffee that was stuffed towards the back off the shelf looking rather neglected compared to the various bags of tea leaves. Jenny had a longer reach than me and had little trouble in getting for me. Thanking her, I got out two mugs, a coffee funnel, and some filter paper, setting it all up before I took a liberal scoop of the ground coffee and dumping it into the filter paper inside the funnel. Now all we had to do was wait for the water to boil.

"So, Jenny-"

"Call me Jennifer, please," she grinned. "That's the name Dad gave me. Friends and family get to call me that now."

I blinked. Usually it was the other way around, strangers calling you by your full name while close friends and family called you by the shortened one. But considering that she was first called 'Jenny' and then the Doctor called her 'Jennifer,' the longer version was obviously more special. She _adored_ her dad and the name he gave her, and now she considered me enough of a friend to call her by it. "…'Kay," I said, a bashful smile crossing my face. "Jennifer, I… uh…" I trailed off, flushing in embarrassment. "I forgot."

She laughed, "Sorry, I should've waited until you were done talking!"

"N-No, it's fine. I-I do it a lot any-anyway," I hurriedly reassured her.

"What are so nervous for? I won't bite."

"Oh, it's…uh…it's not you. I just, I just have a st-stutter," I confessed. "I've h-have it for a long t-t-time now. Um, three or f-four years, I-I think, m-maybe more." Trying to think of something to change the subject, I finally remembered what I was going to ask. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "Jennifer, I remembered! I wanted to-to ask you if you wa-wanted to make other-other things besides c-coffee."

Her expression brightened. "Like what? Is there another beverage I don't know about?"

"N-No, but we could, we could make coffee c-cake or c-cookies to go w-with the c-coffee."

"Is coffee cake made out of coffee? We would have to wait until after we finished brewing it," Jennifer pointed out.

I giggled. "No, y-you just eat it w-with the c-coffee. Like t-tea cakes g-go with tea."

"Oh, well, that too."

The Doctor came in a few hours later to find not a messy kitchen, like they show in TV shows after two friends get together to start baking, but a kitchen that was still, for the most part, just as clean as before, if not cleaner. Go figure.

* * *

"Wow… Is there… even an… end to… the TARDIS?" Jennifer halting asked as she bounced around the room. We had been exploring around the seemingly endless halls while I showed her some of my favorite rooms to visit. The one we were in now had an interior like a giant bouncy house, except with low gravity, so you could bounce on the ceilings and walls.

"No…but I… had a…lot of…time to…explore….so I… know how… to get… around… the halls… There's… no map… bad as… Hogwarts…"

"What's a… Hogwarts?"

"Magic school," I yelped as landed on my butt only to be tossed through the air again, making Jennifer laugh before she landed on her face and was sent flying back.

"What's magic?" She asked.

"Uh…" How did you explain magic? I was stumped. "Um, something… that wizards… and witches… use."

"What's a… wizard and… what's a… witch?"

"People who… use magic…"

"That didn't… answer my… question… at all…"

I began to slow my bouncing and headed over to the door. Jennifer noticed and started bouncing after me. "I…I don't really…. Know how to… define it… Besides, you'd… have to read… the books… about Harry… Potter…"

"Why would I… want to read… books about… a hairy guy… who makes pottery?"

I snorted, trying to withhold laughter. "No! Harry Potter is… his name! He… is a kid… wizard who… goes to… Hogwarts… The Doctor read… all the books… They're his… favorite…" We exited the bouncy room, panting from the exercise.

"Oh… Well, that… makes more sense… will they answer… the question?"

I gulped in a deep breath and nodded. "Better than me…"

"I guess I'll give… them a look then…" Once again I took the lead, and the two of went back to wandering down the halls, idly chatting. Mostly Jennifer asked questions and I tried to answer them as best as I could. We had been doing this for a couple of days, wandering around the TARDIS together and checking out the many rooms. Sometimes Donna joined us and that was always fun to watch, the two of them got along really well, exchanging witty comments left and right. Donna managed to answer some of Jennifer's questions that I couldn't, but some she had to tell her to ask the Doctor.

Speaking of the Doctor, he and Jenny were almost inseparable. She apparently had the same sleep schedule that any other Time Lord or Lady did, so when Donna and I were usually asleep, she spent the rest of the time with her dad. Sometimes, she'd drag along with her to spend time with the Doctor. The times I was there with them, according to Jennifer, the Doctor would talk about some things but not everything that he usually would if it was just her and him. When it was just the two of them, he'd be a lot more forthcoming in speaking about the Time Lords and Gallifrey, her culture and history.

Still, from what little I did hear about, I was uneasily reminded of dreams or the occasional vision I'd get. I never told anyone about them if I could manage it, but I had taken to drawing and painting out the scenes if I could. Doing that seemed to help control the amount of visions and the intensity of the dreams somewhat. Jennifer had found the room when I was painting in it the second day she was on the TARDIS, I had to tell her that the Doctor said I was precognitive, that I knew the future.

I couldn't tell her about 'Doctor Who,' that a TV show was the real reason why I knew all of this, because that was one of the Doctor's rules and he made me promise. Still, what I managed to tell her was true, because the Doctor did say that I was a precognitive and I did know what was generally going to happen in the future, up until Eleven at least. Even then, I only got up to the episode where we meet River for the second time. Even so, I felt dirty, as if I was lying to her, even though I wasn't really.

"So, Penelope, do you think we could go on another trip soon? I only got to see the inside of that building and we didn't get to stay there very long…" Jennifer had been so excited to see what had to be the inside of UNIT headquarter. It had been so bright and open, it had shocked her, but in a good way. All she had been able to say for about a minute was how beautiful it was while she was in complete awe. The Doctor had looked both excited and pained at this. Likely he was eager to show her new places but he felt bad that she had only known the darkness of those underground tunnels on that planet that she had been, well, born on only a few hours ago. From what little I remember from that episode, he had been very reluctant at first to take her with him, so he probably felt guilt about that too.

"Yes," I told her. "The-The Doctor doesn't u-usually want to stay in p-place for too long. We can g-go ask him if you, if you want?"

Jennifer beamed. "Oh, yes! Let's go right now!"

As she dragged me along down the halls, her hand firmly grasped in mine, I could only feel like this was what true happiness felt like.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**

* * *

_**Poll closed: **_Results: Triangle.

A large majority of you picked triangle, which mean that Ross was majorly hurt, but not killed. Circle meant he was completely fine, and nothing too major happened. Square meant death.

_**Explanations:**_

***** Information concerning regeneration in more detail can be found on the site "Rassilon, Omega, and That Other Guy." A link can be found on my profile.

***** Unfortunately, Donna didn't realize what she had just foreshadowed... Very ominous, don't you think?

***** As for Ross in general, we're likely to not hear about him for a while, but don't forget him! He'll be popping back up in the story soon enough. :)

***** More information on regeneration and the bodies of Gallifreyans/Time Lords can be found on both the TARDIS wiki and "Rassilon, Omega, and That Other Guy."

***** Tympanic membrane is just a fancy way of saying eardrum.

*** **Myringoplasty is the closure of the eardrum.

***** A gelfoam patch or a biotissue patch or even a fat tissue patch are sitable for using to close the hole in a eardrum. Most of what's mentioned is applicable to real life and present day. The only exception is that it's usually open ear surgery and that recovery time can be anywhere from six weeks to several months, instead of about eighteen hours.

***** When I was describing the psychic paper being used as a way to communicate, I was strongly reminded of Tom Riddle's diary... It may have influenced how I pictured the psychic paper working... but also that one seen with the paper in the 'Silence in the Library' episode. Harry Potter's been in my mind a lot recently, hence the mention later on in the chapter!

***** Donna Noble seriously makes my day, especially when she was trying to mime the word and play charades. 'Partner's in Crime' and the next episode 'The Wasp and The Unicorn' just make my day.

***** Yes, Jenny asking a bunch of questions about random everyday things is going to be a running gag. You can expect it to be a common thing for a while.

***** Also, you can expect random rooms of awesomeness as time goes on.

***** I just realized that I developing a BrOTP between Penny and Jenny. Not very evident yet in this, quite frankly, filler chapter, but it'll become more obvious later on, I should think.

_**Advertisements:**_

**TITLE:** What It Means To Be Human

**AUTHOR:** Our Brightest Stars

**ID:** 11108693

**SUMMARY:** "I'm never going to stop running from you. The only way I'll stop is if the world ends or I die." He pressed his lips into a grim line, anger blazing in his eyes, although, outwardly, he was calm. "And I'll never stop chasing you. No matter where you run, no matter where you hide, I'll find you. You can't escape me. I refuse to let anyone else die under my watch, not even you."

**OPINION:** Another one of those extremely well-written, realistic, person-from-our-universe falls into the Whoniverse. There's several twists though: she's not a fan of Doctor Who, she's got this chronon radiation sickness that could kill her any second, she's from our universe's future, and apparently she's nearly blind without her glasses. The humor goes hand-in-hand with the seriousness of the situation. We got a well-meaning Doctor with questionable-at-best actions and reasoning. Mixed in with Gilly's no-nonsense attitude and pragmatic approach to everything as well as her awesome lying abilities, it's a great read. It unfortunately doesn't have as much reviews as I would like for an awesome story-in-the-making as that, so** spam it with reviews**!

_**Thought Processes:**_

Ah, apologizes. I was going to publish on April Fool's day but we had a pretty bad storm, so no dice. After that, the munchkins (i.e. my siblings) came and visited, so I didn't have much time to myself to do much of anything until today. To top it all off, Fan Fiction decided to be weird and all my author's notes were missing, a huge pain to write it out separately, but oh well.

I hope you guys can keep Emptyvoices in your prayers, she's going through a tough time with her dad in the hospital. Please pray for his recovery!

And thank you for your support concerning my job! It was fine, it was only the corporate people who had a tough time of it. As the hard-labor, they kept us onboard, since we're the part of the workforce that they can't really do without.

So, um, yeah. Next episode is 'The Wasp and The Unicorn,' lots of fun there with plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained, I hope! Maybe some more BrOTP goodness between the Doctor and Donna as well as Jenny and Penny.

Happy Easter,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

P.S.: Happy Birthday, Takara Matsudaira!

_Date Submitted: Sunday, April 5, 2015._


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